Employment tribunals also called industrial courts in some countries are special employment courts that deal with work-related legal claims. The tribunal comprises more than three people, whereby one is the judge and two non-legal members are called lay members. Our legal team often represent clients on employment law matters.
Initially, employment tribunals were set to provide affordable, quick and informal means of settling employment rights disputes between employers and their employees. Presently, while still less formal compared to civil courts, they have become legal and formal as the law has evolved to become more complex.
Types of Cases
The cases range from unpaid wages, holiday pays interim relief, redundancy pay, and unfair dismissal. This range of cases can be heard by the judge alone in the absence of the lay members.
The other cases include violence at the workplace, data breaches by the employer for ex-employees, postponement of disciplinary meetings, failure to honour parental pay, sexual orientation discrimination, and sexual harassment among many others.
How Employment Tribunal Work
As a panel, all the members must always exercise neutrality. But the lay members will be expected to argue the case professionally with their employment experience when judging the facts of the case.
The judge has the power to order that the claim be heard by a full panel of members, but in practice full panel hearings for these types of claims are rare. However, discrimination claims must always be heard by a full panel of three judges. The tribunals are operated by regional offices which do the administrative job of processing the claims and arranging for the hearings.
Before The Tribunal
Ideally, it is convenient to always resolve any dispute at an earl stag between the employer and the employee without escalating to a higher authority. But when this proves impossible and one party makes a claim against the other, the Alternative Dispute Resolution wing of the tribunal will get in touch and try to get the party to conciliate the matter.
When Issues Are Not Resolved
Sometimes some of the claims might be too complex technically for the tribunal to resolve. During the hearing, the claimant might require to prepare all the appropriate documents as evidence and even call witnesses to appear for the hearing.
If unable to resolve the case, the tribunal will send the applicant a response pack who is thereafter at leeway to pursue litigation or seek assistance from another tribunal.
Employment tribunal costs
When a decision is reached by the tribunal and the claimant wins against the respondent, the former will have to compensate the latter. The compensation might be monetary as set by the court of materialistic in the form o the respondent re-instating the claimant back to work.
The content on this page is for general awareness only. It is not intended to constitute professional or legal advice. Changes to legislation may have happened since this article was published. The contents of this article should not be used as a basis for action and the reader should be advised to seek the appropriate professional advice based on their individual circumstances.
David Philip Harris is a recognised employment solicitor with over 10 years of experience in advising employees and employers on employment law matters. He is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio Berkshire and People Management Magazine. David has represented individual and corporate clients in the employment tribunal as well as the High Court and County Court. David is a member of The Law Society and The Employment Lawyers Association (ELA UK). To contact David, visit the Contact Us page. For media enquiries: info@dphlegal.com.