What kind of documents do you need to store in Valla, and why? 

Evidence

The most important reason to store documents is for evidence. You’ll need this to help show the Tribunal what happened to you. It’s your responsibility to organise your documents, so it’s best to start as soon as possible.

The evidence you will need could include:

• emails, letters, texts, instant messages or social media messages from/to your employer that relate to the problems you had at work
• your employment contract
• policies and procedures that relate to the issue you are having (such as your employer’s grievance procedure or disciplinary procedure)
• any other documents that might support you in showing the Tribunal the issues you have been having at work - this could be a wide range of things such as performance review documentation, or medical evidence (if you need to demonstrate that you are disabled as part of your claim, or if medical evidence is in some way relevant to what happened to you)
• meeting notes you made, or anything you’ve written down about what happened
• payslips from your job (and any new jobs you may have had since leaving) - these will be needed to show your loss of earnings 
• if you’ve left your old job, copies of job applications you have made and/or a table showing the jobs you’ve applied for, the dates and the outcome. This is important to show the Tribunal that you have tried to mitigate your loss of earnings (otherwise your compensation may be reduced).
  

Keeping track of your case

It’s also a good idea to keep documents that relate to the actual mechanics of your case. This will help you remember where you are in your case and what the Tribunal has asked you to do.

These documents could include:

• Your ET1
• the Respondent’s ET3
• notices of hearings, containing the dates, times and attendance details for upcoming hearings
• notes from any Preliminary Hearings
• Case Management Orders
• emails or letters you have sent to/received from the Respondent, ACAS, or the Tribunal
• emails or letters you have sent to/received from your legal advisor, if you have one
• notes you have taken of any hearings or telephone calls relating to the running of your case
  

Most of these documents won’t form part of the evidence in your case, but you should try to keep them in one place so that you (and any friends, family or advisors who are helping you) can easily see what is happening.

If you’re not sure what some of these documents are, you can check out our glossary.