in this video I'm gonna take a look at three mistakes they've come across in
the last ten months or there abouts at Workplace Relations Commission
hearings or labor court hearings number one
I brought a claim on behalf of employee number of employment related claims to
the WRC we were at the hearing but in addition to the employment related
claims there was also a personal injury claim representing the employer was a
hecho representatives no I don't know whether he didn't feel he was able to
deal with the person injury claim or try to settlers or give any advice in
relation to us or throw it into the mix or whatever but the bottom line is this
they tried to settle the case with us we were very very close to a settlement and
the hearing had gone on on the judicata said maybe you should have a world
whatever we were really going well we were well ahead using their interest to
settle the case and for a relatively small amount of extra money
not only could they have settled the case but the code of settled if they had
a proper settlement agreement all and any claims arising from the employment
and that would have included the personal injury claim now to settled us
and get rid of it on behalf of the employer would have been a very very
good day's work because it would have given the employer great comfort that
all and any claims arising from the employment were in this settlement
agreement and all and any claims would have included the personal injury claim
that was something that was of in my view significant value to the employer
and yet the hate your representative didn't appear to place any regard or and
was simply making offers on the basis of the teams we had before the WRC now he
or she may not have been competent may not have been capable may not have had
the professional insurance or whatever the deal with her but if it was an
agreement it was a settlement it will cover all claims and it was a great
opportunity for the employer to get rid of our personal injury claim as well so
the thing didn't settle it went ahead and we did
a very favorable decision from the WRC arising from us but that was entirely
avoidable and not only did we get a very favorable decision but the W er or the
employment or the personal injury claim is still out there
they still have to deal with us that we haven't progressed that are posted on to
any great extent yes but it is still out there and the point is they could have
settled it on the day I'm not sure as I said that the HR representative who was
dealing with the claims at the employment or at the workplace Relations
Commission felt confident or felt capable or felt competent to deal with
the personal injury claim but as I say the opportunity was there could have
been tied up in the Heartland settlement agreement that in my view was a mistake
and if it was a solicitor quite frankly on the other side or a solicitor and a
barrister I think they would have grabbed the opportunity with both hands
to settle everything including the personal injury and
second mistake I have seen made was in relation to documents that were
furnished to us again I was X representing the employee shortly before
the hearing we've got a big bunch of documents from the representative for
the employer and in amongst that buncha documents was one email or one letter
from a professional advisor to the employer that's the other side which we
didn't know existed we weren't aware of us we had no knowledge of us and we had
no way of getting it even if we did know anything about us
and yes years was like a diamond in a pink study in amongst all the other
documents it was a huge value to our case because it could prove that the
employer had a particular knowledge of a particular thing I'd never taken her
point in time and that was of huge benefit to us because that knowledge was
not shared with my client the employee and it strengthened our case and it
significantly weakened the case of the employer again that was a mistake
because we should never have seen that document the third mistake that I have
seen is to do with evidence
I was involved in a case one day again I was for the employee I'm not always for
the employee sometimes I'm for the employer but in all of these three cases
I was for the employee in this particular case I'd taken my client
through direct evidence he'd gone through his evidence there was a couple
of things don't read overlooked now taking myself now I would have probably
got another bite of the cherry anywhere in redirect but I had left a couple of
important questions that I should have asked my client in order for him to tell
his story better however when the HR representative for the employer
cross-examined him he actually asked him the questions that elicited the
information that I wanted to get out so this was an example of the puzzle
representative actually fixing or shoring up the holes in the job that I
had done as I say I've left out a couple of questions I should have asked them I
didn't the evidence was going to be important from my client and yet the
cross-examination by the other representative the representor for the
employer actually did my job for me asked me quite he asked my client
questions which gave my client the opportunity to give the answers that we
wanted him to give and that was another example if any more examples needed to
be shown of asking one or two questions too many most people for many people
think from watching TV programs and so on
that cross examinations should be aggressive and vigorous and you know
rendering the person that's been asked the questions into a pile of tears or a
breakdown situation or something of that nature nothing could be further from the
truth and one of the most important skills in could be or in
cross-examination is actually knowing when to shut up
when sit down and to not ask any more questions
when to thank the witness and leave it at that but it stayed on this occasion
the other guy asked a couple of questions he shouldn't have asked and
actually gave my client the opposite to fix the holes that I hadn't died have
to open true not asking the questions I should have asked I hope you find this
video useful if you do give us a thumbs up down below and you may be interested
in subscribing to my youtube channel but there are three mistakes that I have
observed in the WRC under they record over the last nine and a half or ten
months