Employment Tribunal Claims

You can take your employer to an Employment Tribunal if you think they have treated you unfairly, or broken the law.

The tribunal can order the employer to pay you compensation if you win your case. See if there is another way to solve the problem before going to the tribunal, for example, by using a grievance procedure or mediator.

You usually have to apply to the tribunal within three months of your employment ending, or the problem happening at work.

Before you make a claim in an Employment Tribunal, you will have to notify the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) and try to settle before you will be allowed to go ahead with the claim. ACAS will have one month in which to try and resolve the dispute. This process is called Early Conciliation and is free of charge.

You must contact ACAS either online, by post or by telephone providing your name and address and that of the employer (preferably with contact telephone numbers and email addresses too).

Next, someone from ACAS will contact you and your employer to try to settle the matter. If this is not possible because, for example, one of the parties is not willing to settle, or cannot be contacted, or because the one month time period has run out, ACAS will issue a certificate which allows you to go ahead with your tribunal claim.

The tribunal can deal with a wide range of claims.  You will have to pay a fee to take your case to an employment tribunal and the amount depends on your type of case. The issue fee is either £160 or £250 and the hearing fee is £230 or £950. If you are unemployed or on a low wage, you can ask for the fees to be waived.

After lodging a claim, the employer usually has to respond to this, to give their side of the case, within 28 days of getting your claim form. If they do not reply, an Employment Judge may decide on your case without you having to go to a hearing. If your employer does respond, there will be a hearing to decide on your case.

For free initial advice from the Hethertons’ Employment Law Team, please give us a call on 01904 528200.