Fees
There is no requirement for a Claimant to pay a fee to make a claim to the Employment Tribunal or the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
This was confirmed on 26th July 2017 by the Supreme Court which declared unlawful the Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunal Fees Order 2013.
This is a major victory for employees and this great news was as a direct result of UNISON’S legal challenge.
If a Claimant has previously paid fees then they are entitled to a refund and further details can be found at GOV.UK - https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/employment-tribunal.
Previously
Prior to the 26th July 2017 Claimants were having to find as much as £1,200 to pursue a claim against their employer which prevented many from bringing a claim at all.
As a result of the above, this allowed employers to get away with breaking the law and left employees having to accept any unfair treatment at work as they were unable to fund a claim which in my opinion was wrong and unfair.
Procedure on how to bring an employment tribunal claim
1. Try and resolve your issue(s) with your employer as a starting point and see if you can sort it out without having to involve legal action.
2. If you still want to make a claim you will need to contact ACAS and go through the Early Conciliation process. This is a mandatory step.
a. You will need to complete an Early Conciliation notification form and submit this. You will then receive an Acknowledgement that your form has been submitted.
b. You will be contacted by an ACAS Conciliator and they will go through the details with you.
c. Early Conciliation will stop the clock and whilst these discussions are taking place with ACAS the time limit for making a tribunal claim is extended.
d. Early Conciliation will last for one month however this timeframe can be extended by another 14 days if both parties are hoping to come to a resolution.
e. At the end of the Early Conciliation period and if no solution has been reached then you will be issued with a Certificate. You will need this in order to pursue your claim to the employment tribunal.
f. The deadline clock starts again once Early Conciliation ends and extra time is added to ensure everyone had at least one calendar month to present an employment tribunal claim.
g. You need to ensure you understand the deadlines and note tribunal claims have limitation periods. Claims need to be presented usually within three or six months depending on the type of claim. For example, a person has three months from the date the employment ended in which to make a claim of unfair dismissal.
h. You will then need to complete a claim form known as an ET1 form which can be submitted online. This will include your personal details, name of the Employer and the basis of your claim.
Examples of claims you can bring to an employment tribunal
1. Unfair dismissal
2. Discrimination
3. Redundancy claims
4. Wages claims
If you have an enquiry regarding any of the above issues please telephone us and ask to speak to an Employment solicitor for a free no-obligation discussion. Summerfield Browne have offices in London, Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford, Cambridge and Market Harborough
