Employment Tribunals
Employment Tribunals
Employment Tribunals are specialised Tribunals who hear the majority of claims in Employment Law. There are 21 Employment Tribunals in England and Wales and 4 in Scotland. Most Employment law claims can only be brought in the Employment Tribunal, these include Unfair dismissal claims and unlawful discrimination claims. Some Employment related claims such as Employer’s claims for injunctions, Employees claims for industrial accidents cannot be brought in the Employment Tribunals and must be brought in the County Court or High Court. Some claims, such as claims for breach of contract can be brought either Employment Tribunals or Courts.
Employment Tribunals are like Courts but hearings are less formal, however they still follow a similar procedure to Court Hearings, and their judgments can be enforced in courts as if they were a Court Judgment. Most hearings are held in public, so members of the public who are not involved in the hearing are normally entitled to attend.
Claims are brought by completing a claim form. The Claim can be emailed from the Employmnet Tribunal Service website, or sent by post or fax to appropriate Employment Tribunal depending on the post code of the Employee’s place of work, click here to find the appropriate Employment Tribunal.
The Employment Tribunal will send the Claim form to the Employer and the Employer will have 28 days to respond to the claim. The form to respond to the claim will be sent to the Employer by the Tribunal, but it can also be downloaded here.
Before the case is ready to be heard, the Employment Tribunal will often require the parties to take various steps before the case is ready for a hearing. Usually the employee has to provide the employer with a statement showing how much they are claiming, both parties have to provide copies of their documents and written statements of evidence.
For further information see the Employment tribunal’s website.
Annual statistics are published every year showing the numbers of claims started and the number of claims finished, how they were disposed of and the level of awards made. to see the most recent report click on Employment Tribunal Statistics
Tips for finding a solicitor to deal with an Employment Tribunal case
Specialist legal knowledge and experience is a good start, but to “get the edge” it is useful to find a solicitor with experience of representing clients at Employment Tribunals, particularly at the Employment Tribunal where your case is likely to be heard. This is because familiarity with the way a Tribunal is likely to assess particular cases and particular circumstances helps effective advice and preparation right from the start.
Most of our experience here at John Halson solicitors is based in representing clients at the Liverpool Employment Tribunal which covers claims arising from people who have worked in north and central Cheshire including Chester, Warrington, Northwich, Middlewich, Winsford, Tarporley, Ellesmere Port, Great Sutton; and Merseyside including Liverpool, Birkenhead and the Wirral, Widnes, Runcorn, St Helens, Kirkby, Maghull, Skelmersdale, Ormskirk, Southport, and Formby.
We also regularly appear in the Manchester Employment Tribunal and occasionally in the Leeds, Birmingham and Shrewsbury Tribunals.