Pricing and Staff Information for Employment Tribunals - Employers

An Employment Tribunal makes decisions about all types of employment disputes, including claims of unfair dismissal and discrimination. Claims are heard by a panel of three members, who will be an employment judge, someone representing employer’s organisations and someone representing employee’s organisations. Employment Tribunals are public, meaning anyone can attend and they can be freely reported in the press.

Employees usually have 3 months less one day from the date of the alleged incident to bring a claim. If the claim relates to a pattern of behaviour, the time limit may be counted from when the most recent example is alleged to have occurred.

If the claimant only became aware of a potential issue sometime after it occurred, the time limit may be counted from this date instead (e.g. if they were overlooked for a promotion and later come to believe this was due to a protected characteristic such as their race or gender).

Employment Tribunals deal with a wide range of employment disputes, including in relation to matters such as:

• Unfair dismissal
• Redundancy
• Maternity leave + paternity leave
• Discrimination
• Workplace bullying + harassment
• Equal pay

Before taking formal action, an employee should contact you to discuss the issue they believe has arisen. At this point, it is strongly advisable to contact our specialist employment solicitors. We can advise you on whether your employee’s claim has merit and whether they are likely to succeed at an Employment Tribunal.

If the employee appears to have strong grounds for a successful claim, we can help you negotiate a voluntary settlement agreement with them, allowing the matter to be resolved without the need for formal action. A settlement agreement protects you against the possibility of the employee bringing a claim for the issue in question, usually in exchange for a one-off payment to the employee.

If a settlement agreement cannot be reached, an employee will normally need to contact Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) and attempt early conciliation before making a claim to an Employment Tribunal. Early conciliation will usually result in either a legal binding oral agreement or a COT3 form recording the terms of any agreement reached.

Generally speaking, most employment claims can be resolved without the need for you to attend a tribunal, which can save you time and money, as well as the potential for negative publicity.

If an employee has contacted Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) to resolve an employment dispute, you will be contacted by an Acas conciliator. They will work with you and your employee to see if an agreement can be reached to resolve the dispute voluntarily, allowing you to avoid the need for an Employment Tribunal.

An agreement you reach through Acas early conciliation will be legally binding and the details of the agreement will usually be recorded in a COT3 form.

If you cannot resolve an employment dispute with a settlement agreement or through early conciliation, you may be required to attend an Employment Tribunal.

This will involve both you and your employee presenting your cases to the tribunal panel, usually with the support of your respective solicitors. The panel will then decide whether the employee’s claim is justified or not.

If the tribunal panel decides in favour of the employee, then depending on the circumstances you may be required to:

• Reinstate the employee into their previous role, on the same terms and conditions
• Rehire the employee in a new role with terms and conditions equal or better to those they were on previously
• Pay financial compensation to the employee

If the tribunal panel decide in your favour, that will usually be the end of the matter, unless the employee appeals the decision.

In some exceptional cases, the panel may require the employee to cover your legal costs. However, this will usually only be in circumstances such as if the employee brought a claim with no reasonable chance of success or if they withdrew their claim very late in proceedings when you had already spent a considerable amount on your legal costs.

An ET1 is a form an employee will fill out to start an Employment Tribunal claim when they believe they have been treated unfairly by their employer, potential employer or their trade union.

An ET3 is the form you use as an employer to respond to an Employment Tribunal claim brought by an employee or a job candidate whom you chose not to employ.

This will entirely depend on the circumstances, but we will try to give you a realistic indication of the likely costs involved at the earliest opportunity.

Please get in touch now to discuss your case and we will be happy to give a clear breakdown of our fees and various expenses involved in Employment Tribunal claims.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of an Employment Tribunal hearing, we can advise you on whether you may have grounds to appeal. If we believe your appeal has a real prospect of success, we can help you take your case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) for review.

You will usually have 42 days from the date when you receive the original Employment Tribunal decision to submit your case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) for review.

An EAT hearing will involve presenting your case, usually with the support of a solicitor, and the employee will also be able to present their case. The EAT will then make a decision over whether to hold up the original Employment Tribunal’s decision or whether to offer a different decision.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of an EAT hearing, you can then apply to the Court of Appeal for a further review of your case. You do not have an automatic right to have your case reviewed by the Court of Appeal, however, so you will need to apply to the EAT or the Court of Appeal for permission to have your case reviewed.