Employment Tribunal Claims - A Very Real Risk To Local Employers

Tuesday 13th September 2011

The recent publication of the 2010-2011 statistics for the Employment Tribunal has prompted Salisbury and Andover Employment Solicitors,       Bonallack and Bishop, to remind local employers of the very real risk of an employment tribunal claim.

Solicitor Nigel Mills from Bonallack and Bishop's employment law team commented; “The good news is that 2010-2011 actually saw a slight 8% drop in the number of applications,  although the actual number of claims dealt with by tribunals increased by 9%. The bad news is that the reduction in claims is simply a drop in the ocean with a huge 218,100 claims being made during that 12 month period, the second highest ever number of claims made in a single year. In particular, it's interesting to see that whilst the number of redundancy and unfair dismissal claims dipped slightly, the number of employment tribunal age discrimination claims increased by 15%. Age discrimination is definitely a growth area and one that employers need to look out for, especially as it has the highest average level of compensation at a huge £30,289.

Although average employment tribunal compensation orders for unfair dismissal claims were £4,591 and between £5,000 and £6,500 for discrimination cases, some discrimination claims saw much higher awards with the highest compensation for a sex discrimination claim amounting to a staggering £289,167.

In contrast, Tribunals were, as usual, highly reluctant to award costs to the employer, with costs awarded in just 487 claims. When you add legal expenses to the enormous costs to any business in defending a claim, taking every possible step to avoid claims should be the priority of every business, especially in the current economic climate.

Given how expensive and stressful an employment tribunal dismissal claim can be for any employer, it's particularly worrying that the statistics report "an increase of around a fifth" in the number of outstanding cases – so there's an increasingly huge backlog building up.”

Is there anything employers can do to protect themselves? According to Nigel there is.

“The law and procedures surrounding employment is complex and frankly is unlikely to get any easier. Whatever size your business is, every employer needs to make sure they know what they're doing with regard to employment law – from wording a recruitment advert to making someone redundant. Take the guesswork out and don't cut corners. If you are at all uncertain of what to do, don't hesitate to give a specialist employment lawyer a quick call”.

Bonallack and Bishop senior partner, Tim Bishop, commented; “Sadly, we are not in the least surprised by the statistics. We've seen a significant increase in the number of employment dispute inquiries in the last year, and in fact we are taking on a new employment solicitor next month to help deal with them.”

For further information and advice, please email  Nigel Mills or Tim Bishop or telephone 01722 422300 or telephone 01722 422300.

(Source: Employment Tribunals and EAT Statistics, 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011, published by Ministry of Justice, September 1, 2011 at http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/statistics-and-data/tribunals/employment-tribunal-and-eat-statistics-gb.htm)