Employment Tribunal Services in the UK

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UK Employment Tribunal Service

The Employment Tribunal Service is an independent judicial body which oversees disputes between employers and employees in cases where employment rights are being questioned. The tribunal is similar to a court, but informal and open to the public. it was previously located at www.employmenttribunals.gov.uk but has since been integrated into the Ministry of Justice's website at www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/employment

At the employment tribunal, evidence is heard and legal arguments are made and finally the tribunal will make a decision based on this evidence. However if both parties wish to avoid this process they can opt to use the judicial mediation service which will result in an Alternative Dispute Resolution.

An employee can take their employer to an employment tribunal if they have been dismissed or forced to leave their job and it is deemed to be unfair or against employment law. Examples of this might be discriminatory dismissal based on gender, age, disability or sexual orientation; failure to give equal pay or fair working conditions, not paying an employee at least a minimum wage or not providing and adhering to a contract.

There are many ways that an employer can fall outside of the law when deciding to dismiss an employee and the employee is within their rights to ask an employment tribunal to look into the case if they feel they have been wrongly let go or forced to leave their job.

A recent case in which a man with a stutter was sacked from his job is a good example of how the law currently works in relation to discrimination in the workplace. Adnan Malik worked for Asda and was accused of raising his voice while working at the checkouts. A customer complained and said he was noisy and aggressive. Mr Malik took the case to an employment tribunal arguing that it was his stutter which caused him to raise his voice. He claimed unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. In this case it was pointed out that employers need to be more lenient on employees who have disabilities which may cause them to act in inappropriate ways.

Compensation payments made to an employment tribunal claimant are usually based on what they would have earned had they been able to keep their job. It is also possible that the judge may decide to offer more money for distress or illness arising from the complaint. If future employability has been affected, a compensation payment will be offered for this as well. Generally the employer will be expected to cover legal costs or their former employee if they lose the case.

The number of cases going through the employment tribunal process has been increasing in recent years and the government has been hoping to reduce the number which take place. They feel that the difficulty associated with dismissing an employee has led to a stifling of businesses - in particular, small businesses.

To alleviate this problem the government has proposed new legislation which will make it easier to sack an employee for no reason and will lift restrictions on equality laws. It addition a cap on employment tribunal payouts will be put in place. Employees will no longer be able to claim third party harassment. This means that if someone in the workplace is harassed or subject to discrimination by a customer, this will no longer be deemed the fault of the employer.

It is this third party harassment change which experts find most abhorrent as it effectively allows any type of conduct in the workplace to carry on unabated. This could lead to a culture of harassment which the employer has no responsibility in law for. It has also been pointed out that this goes against European law.

The government is hoping that the new legislation will lead to job creation, however the small matter of the slow down of the UK economy and the lack of growth is likely to be more of a barrier than the increase in employment tribunal cases.

Note: Claimants in Northern Ireland should apply to the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal, Northern Ireland (www.employmenttribunalsni.co.uk).

Other popular articles related to this one include: Employment Tribunal Service, NHSLA, The Ministry of Justice, Legal Complaints Ombudsman, Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, The Law Society, Charities Helped, and . Please let us know if you find any errors.

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