Violence at Work (UK)

Employment Tribunals

Employment Tribunals are a slightly less formal, more accessible (i.e. less expensive) way to settle employment related disputes between workers and employers than the courts.

An Employment Tribunal consists of a Chairperson who is legally qualified and two other members. One of these is appointed from a panel of people nominated by workers' organisations and the other from a panel nominated by employers' organisations.

Employment Tribunals are held (in their own offices) in most large cities.

Hearings are usually open to the public, and details of applications to Tribunals and Tribunal decisions are kept on a central register that is open to public inspection.

Tribunals offer redress, re-instatement and compensation

If an Employment Right is either denied or infringed, an employee can (normally) claim a remedy by making a complaint to an Employment Tribunal.

Employment Tribunals can order:

• Reinstatement

• Re-engagement

• Compensation

Orders for reinstatement or re-engagement normally include an award of compensation for the loss of earnings.

Note: On 1st February 2003 new upper limits on maximum compensation which an employment tribunal award came into effect, including an increase in maximum compensatory award to £53,500 (Previously the maximum compensation award used to be £12000.

Asserting a statutory employment right

Some rights apply to all employees as soon as they start work; others depend on factors such as length of service and continuity of employment and for certain rights, various groups of people are excluded.

However, the law provides for ALL employees (regardless of length of service) to complain to an Employment Tribunal if they are:

• Unfairly dismissed (This includes selection for redundancy when others in similar circumstances are not selected and circumstances where unreasonable behaviour on the part of the employer has left the employee with little alternative but to quit the job.)

• For bringing proceedings against their employer to enforce certain rights, or for alleging the employer has infringed those rights.

To benefit, the employee need not necessarily have specified the right, so long as it was reasonably clear to the employer what the right was. Provided they act in good faith, employees are protected regardless of whether they qualified for the right and regardless of whether that right had in fact been infringed.

Employees can claim protection if they are dismissed after asserting rights relating to:

• written statement of employment particulars; itemised pay statement; for trade union duties and activities or training; unlawful deductions from pay; not having to make unauthorised payments to employer; guarantee payments; opting out of shop or betting work on Sunday (England and Wales only); detriment in cases about: health and safety, Sunday working, working time, trusteeship of employee pension schemes, employee representatives, time off for study and training, protected disclosures, maternity, parental or domestic leave, or grounds related to trade union membership or activities; remuneration during suspension on medical grounds; time off: for public duties, to look for work or make arrangements for training prior to redundancy, for antenatal care, for dependants, for employee pension scheme trustee or director's duties or training, for study or training for young people, for employee representatives; minimum notice terminating employment; deduction of unauthorised or excessive union subscriptions; employer paying contribution to a union's political fund; consultation about redundancy or business transfer; working time, rest periods, breaks and annual leave;

Similar protection is provided for employees who are dismissed for certain actions under the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 1999 or the Part Time Work Regulations 2000 or because they qualify for: the national minimum wage; working families tax credit; disabled person's tax credit or because any action is taken (or even proposed to be taken) to enforce any of these rights.

Taking action on health and safety grounds

An employee may not be dismissed, selected for redundancy (when others in similar circumstances are not selected) or subjected to any detrimental action for taking certain types of action on health and safety grounds. For instance, where they:

• carry out or propose to carry out activities which their employer has designated them to carry out in connection with preventing or reducing risks to health and safety at work;or

• perform or propose to perform functions they have as official or employer-acknowledged health and safety representatives or committee members;

• or bring to their employer's attention by reasonable means - and in the absence of a representative or committee with whom it would be reasonably practicable for them to raise the matter - a concern about circumstances at work which they reasonably believe are harmful to health and safety;

• in the event of danger which they reasonably believe to be serious and imminent and which they could not reasonably be expected to avert, leave or propose to leave the workplace or any dangerous part of it, or (while the danger continues) refuse to return;

• or in circumstances of danger which they reasonably believe to be serious and imminent, take or propose to take appropriate steps to protect themselves or others.

• All employees regardless of their lenght of service have the right to complain to an Employment Tribunal if any of these rights are infringed.

In cases of dismissal or selection for redundancy on health and safety grounds, the remedies will be subject to the same limits as under the ordinary unfair dismissal provisions. However, where health and safety representatives or committee members or those designated to carry out workplace health and safety activities (for example, first aiders, security guards) are dismissed or selected for redundancy, they are entitled to damages without a statutory limit.

Warning!

If you think you have a case for applying to the Employment Tribunal, seek detailed advice about your case as soon as possible.

This is because applications to Employment Tribunals are strictly "time limited", meaning that complaints must be lodged within a stipulated time period.

The deadline for most applications is 3 months from the incident complained about, except in redundancy cases when it is 6 months, or in equal pay claims when there is no time limit. Only in very exceptional cases will the Tribunal office accept late applications, and if you miss the deadline you will normally lose your right to a hearing.

Applying to the Employment Tribunal

You apply by using form ET1 available from Job Centres, other Employment Service offices, or ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service).

The completed form is sent to your local Employment Tribunals Regional Office.

If you are near the deadline but cannot get advice in time, send in the form anyway. You should keep a copy for yourself.

If you have more than one ground for complaint, include them all.

In due course you will receive an acknowledgement from the Regional Employment Tribunals office giving the number of your case. Your ET1 will be sent to your employer.

They then have 14 days to reply to the Employment Tribunal office, who will send you a copy of the response. This is called the respondent's Notice of Appearance and is form ET3.

N.B. Employers who do not submit a Notice of Appearance are likely to lose the right to defend themselves.

Funding a case