Can you call a witness for a pre-hearing at the Employment tribunal?

Can you call a witness for a pre-hearing at the employment tribunal?

• Answer:

  Usually yes, the others that have answered do not have experience of employment tribunals, which are different in that "pre-hearing reviews" are often held to decide preliminary points. This might be anything, but is often: - whether the ET1 was lodged in time - whether there is any chance of the claim succeeding, or if instead it ought to be struck out or the Claimant required to pay a deposit - whether or not the Claimant was an employee, or just a worker (or neither) - whether or not the Claimant is disabled It all depends on the nature of the claim. So for example in a disability discrimination claim it might take a very long hearing if you did everything at once, but if the employee isn't disabled within the meaning of the Act, that can be decided in half a day, and potentially save a lot of time. So if the PHR is for this purpose then you can call witnesses. The tribunal will usually have made directions about when any witness statements should be served. The general rule is that both parties should notify the other as to which witnesses they will be calling to give evidence, and exchange witness statements in advance.