When Tina Chummun received a text message from her boss sacking her on the spot with no paid notice period, she feared for her career and how she would pay her bills.
Tina had been working in marketing for a start-up company that specialised in providing menopause support and took pride in her work.
But for weeks leading up to her dismissal in April last year, relations at work had become strained.
Tina says she was bombarded with WhatsApp messages about her job to her personal phone, sometimes until 11 o’clock at night.
On top of that, she herself had been grappling with severe perimenopausal symptoms and painful side-effects from being on the wrong hormone replacement therapy medicine.
The shock message landed on her phone while Tina, 49, was resting at home on sick leave.
Victory: Tina Chummun took her employer to a tribunal after she was sacked from a marketing company by text message with no paid notice period
Tina, who lives in Kettering, Northamptonshire, had returned to work one Monday after taking several days off due to her symptoms.
She says she was still unwell but did not want to take further time off. But, she says her boss, a medical doctor, said that unless Tina could work at full capacity she did not want her there at all. She was promptly sent home.
Later that day, a message popped up on her phone. It read: ‘The working dynamic isn’t going the way I’d hoped… we must now part ways.’
Later the same day, Tina received an email from her employer stating that she was being sacked for gross misconduct and no notice period or payment in lieu would be made.
Among the reasons, they accused her of poor performance and falsely claiming to have permission to speak to one of the company’s doctors about her menopause concerns for free. Tina says her boss had advised her to do so.
‘When I got the text I was really upset,’ says Tina. ‘I’d put a lot of energy into the work I was producing. I wanted the job. I also started to panic about what would happen to my mortgage and my career.’
Once the shock had subsided, Tina knew she had to fight back.
She dug out her legal expenses policy that had cost just £27 for two years’ protection, rang the number and prepared to battle the company in court.
Tina had taken the cover, a family legal protection policy provided by BDElite, several years earlier after a recommendation from a work friend.
Having suffered from discrimination in the workplace on three prior occasions and paying for her own solicitor, she did not hesitate to take out a policy that would cover those costs.
She was given a legal team, who helped her to gather evidence to make her case and to write a witness statement detailing what had happened.
At the employment tribunal, she was given a barrister to fight her corner. When Tina’s employer found they were being taken to a
tribunal they lodged a counterclaim stating she had breached her contract by deceiving a doctor into giving her a medical consultation for free, making the case even more complex, lengthy and expensive.
A year after Tina was sacked, the judge in the tribunal ruled in her favour, and the claim of gross misconduct was thrown out.
The ruling meant her employer had to pay her £12,500 to cover her notice period. The legal fees of more than £15,000 that she had incurred were paid for thanks to her insurance policy.
Without her policy, she could not have afforded to challenge her dismissal. She says: ‘I’m an honest and genuine person and I was being falsely accused of something I’d never have done.
‘Throughout the tribunal I was sitting there with a ton of anxiety because they were deciding my fate. When I heard the decision I burst into tears. I’m so grateful to the legal team, they really saved me. I’ve recommended this policy to all my friends.’
In fact, it is not always necessary to take out one of these standalone policies.
Millions of households have similar legal policies that would cover bills if they faced an employment tribunal or other legal battle, but don’t even know they have it.
Around 15 million households are estimated to have legal expenses cover as a standard feature of their home insurance, according to watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority.
Covered: Around 15 million households are estimated to have legal expenses cover as a standard feature of their home insurance, according to the Financial Conduct Authority
A quarter of policies include legal cover as standard, which households may be unaware of if they have held the policy for some time or did not read the terms and conditions thoroughly.
You can also buy legal expenses insurance as a standalone policy, the option Tina took, if it is not built into your home insurance policy or offered as an add-on.
There are two types of cover: family legal insurance, also known as home legal cover, and motor legal insurance.
Motor legal covers policy holders only for motor-related incidents such as uninsured loss claims and injuries in your vehicle.
Family legal insurance covers much wider legal issues.
For example, policy holders are covered for cases of medical or clinical negligence where surgery has not been carried out correctly, a dentist has removed the wrong tooth, or negligence during childbirth, says Angela Pilley, from financial product experts Defaqto.
Disputes with retailers or tradespeople are also covered, for example, if you have bought something faulty and are refused a refund, or a kitchen is installed incorrectly.
If you are fighting a dispute with your neighbour over the placement of a fence or wall, or if someone else’s building work caused damage to your property, your policy will help you pay for legal action.
According to Aviva, which includes legal expenses cover as a main part of its policy or as an add-on, the most common claims include employment issues such as unfair dismissal (27 per cent of cases), property disputes such as boundary issues (23 per cent) and contract disputes, such as poor workmanship by a tradesman (20 per cent).
Legal cover is commonly selected as an add-on to your motor or legal insurance. According to ratings company Defaqto, of the 253 home contents insurance policies on the market, 59 per cent offer family legal cover as an optional extra.
Steve Parry, group claim director at Hiscox, says: ‘Legal expenses cover gives customers access to high-quality legal advice without incurring significant legal costs.
‘A dispute between homeowners, businesses or motorists can quickly and easily become a complex legal matter so legal expenses cover brings real peace of mind.’
The cost of family and motor legal cover starts from £20 and £15 a year respectively, according to insurance broker Russell Scanlan. Standalone and add-on insurances are similar in price.
The sum insured is generally limited to £50,000 for family legal and £100,000 for motor. Unlike other types of insurance, claims aren’t paid out to policy holders, the money goes straight to the law firm to pay for their services.
There are some restrictions to watch out for. Sharron Torr, at Russell Scanlan, says: ‘Insurers use a panel of solicitors so you are not free in the main to choose your own. There also must be a 60 per cent chance of recovery for a claim to be agreed.’
Your claim cannot relate to a matter that happened before your policy started and some policies will not provide cover for employment disputes for between 30 and 180 days after the insurance was taken out.
- Have you used a home insurance policy for a legal battle? Email moneymail@dailymail.co.uk