Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
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The blog is updated by both authors with updates to the book, as case-law develops and legislation changes. It also includes general advice, which expands on the book. Much of the material appearing on this blog is drawn from the day-to-day queries raised, and difficulties experienced, by volunteers at the Free Representation Unit.
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
When employment tribunals (then “industrial tribunals”) were set up, access to them was free. If you wanted to bring a claim, you sent in a form, the tribunal heard the case, and in due course it told you whether you had won or lost, and if you had won, how much your employer would have to pay you. If you represented yourself, the whole process didn’t need to cost you anything more than your bus fare to the tribunal and a certain amount of postage.
That all changed in 2013. From 29 July 2013, if you wanted to bring a tribunal claim you had to pay two fees: one for starting the claim, and a sec ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
Don’t worry. You need to give your employer’s name and address in your ET1, and (if different) the address of the place you worked. If your employer is a company, you can find their registered office from the Companies House website. The employment tribunal will send the form to your employer, and tell them their deadline to respond.
If your employer ignores your ET1, that’s good news from your point of view: it means – unless they come up with a very good excuse – they won’t be allowed to take part in any hearing. You’ll get to tell your story, and there will be no-one there to contradict you ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
If you are representing a client (or yourself) in the employment tribunal – or any other court or tribunal, come to that – your job is to put your case to the best of your ability. The judge’s job is to decide on the outcome: that’s what they’re paid for.
Judges don’t always remember this. Sometimes you will come under considerable pressure to concede part of your case, or to agree that a view the judge expresses on the law at the beginning of the hearing is correct. Judges are supposed to be experts on the law, and lots are: but some aren’t, and even the best are wrong sometimes. So if the ju ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
In a case where there story is at all factually complicated – and quite likely, even if it isn’t – the tribunal will want a chronology. That means a list of the most important things that happened, with dates, in the order in which they happened. A simple chronology may just be a list of dates and events. Often the order in which things happened is extremely important to what inferences the tribunal will draw. Take a chronology that goes like this:
4/1/13 C started work
21/7/13 C announces pregnancy
22/7/13 C’s line-manager emails her a list of complaints about her latest assignment
28/7/13 C ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
The Employment Rights Act says that employees have the right not to be unfairly dismissed, and whether or not an employer’s decision to dismiss was unfair is to be decided by the tribunal ‘in accordance with equity and the substantial merits of the case.’
You might think that that meant an employment tribunal had to decide whether they thought your employer had acted unfairly in dismissing you. You’d be wrong: over many years, judges have decided that what Parliament was really trying to say was that where an employer decides that a particular potential reason for dismissal is sufficient groun ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
A great deal of tribunal advocacy, especially on behalf of claimants, involves criticising the behaviour of someone else (normally the employer).
For example, in an unfair dismissal claim one might be arguing that the procedure used to dismiss somebody was unfair or that dismissal was not a reasonable response in the circumstances.
Criticism should always be specific rather than general.
Why is the procedure unfair? If it’s because the employee wasn’t told about the allegations before the disciplinary meeting, say that. ‘Mr Smith did not know anything of the case against him before the meeting ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
If only that was literary possible. It would be great to be propelled around the London Marathon course by the good wishes of hundreds of Employment Tribunal Claims readers (not to mention it would undoubtedly improve my time).
But, even though it isn’t literally possible, it is figuratively possible. I’ll be running the marathon on behalf of the Free Representation Unit, where I work as Legal Officer, Employment. Since 1972, FRU has done what is says on the tin: provide representation in tribunals for people who can’t afford lawyers. We do this by working with law students, thereby providing ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
“I’m a big fan of John Maynard Keynes,” said David Cameron at his surprise announcement about Employment Tribunal Reforms with Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage. He said ‘When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?’ It’s clear that our policy on Employment Tribunal Fees was a bit of a wrong turn. We all thought there’d be a modest decrease in claims, mostly the weak or vexatious ones, and hard working people who had decent claims would be perfectly happy to rummage down the back of the sofa for £1,200, or borrow from relatives, or maybe do a little part-time prostituti ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
The ET rules require an application to the tribunal (the ET1 form) to be ‘accompanied’ by a fee or an application for remission; but the online claim mechanism doesn’t provide any method of applying for remission at the same time – you have to send the remission application by post.
We noted in the 4th edition of ET Claims that this was a bit of a puzzle, and recommended posting the remission application the same day if possible – but in any event making sure it arrives within 7 days of the online claim.
This point was considered by the EAT In Deangate Ltd v Hatley (thanks to Daniel Barnett, a ..read more
Employment Tribunal Claims | By Naomi Cunningham & Michael Reed
3y ago
Your ET1 is the form you complete to start your claim — also known as the claim form.
It’s a vitally important document and it’s important you make sure you keep a copy of it. If you’re submitting online, you can do this by saving it to PDF when submit it electronically. If you post it, you’ll need to take a photocopy.
This all sounds very obvious, but I’m encountered a surprising number of cases where people have sent off their ET1, without holding onto a copy. I suspect the problem is that the wider world of the internet has taught us all that we’re bound to receive a confirmation email with ..read more