Tribunals Flashcards
What are tribunals?
Tribunals were first established in the second half of the 20th century as a means of enforcing peoples’ social rights – sex/age/race discrimination, unfair dismissal etc.
They reside alongside, although are not part of the court structure.
Less formal than courts.
Decisions are binding and can be enforced by the courts if not followed.
Tribunals can deal with matters as diverse as: disability allowance rights, redundancy payments, discrimination cases, political asylum cases.
What are both tiers of the tribunal structure?
First tier tribunal - Handles roughly 600,000 cases a year with nearly 200 judges and 3,600 lay members.
Upper tribunal - Hears appears from the first tier tribunals.
What are the four chambers of the upper tribunal?
There are four chambers:
Administrative Appeals Chamber
Tax and Chancery Chamber
Lands Chamber
Asylum and Immigration Chamber
What are some of the procedures at Tribunal?
Usually presided over by one judge. They may be assisted by non-lawyer experts.
People often represent themselves, but they can have a lawyer with them.
What do you have to do to take your employer to Tribunal?
Make a claim.
You must have raised it with your employer.
Participate in an employer’s grievance procedure.
Checking the ACAS Code of Practice guidelines for discipline and grievance procedures. Both employers and employees have to follow it.
Contact ACAS for an ‘early conciliation’.
Getting a conciliation certificate to show ACAS could not resolve the dispute.
After these steps fill in an ET1 form, outlining your complaint.
The complaint is logged.
Send a copy to ACAS.
A copy of the complaint is sent to the employer (now known as the respondent), together with a form for the employer to complete in response (form ET3).
The claim can be settled at this stage. They have 28 days to respond, and if they don’t then it’s an automatic win for the claimant.
The claim should be within three months of the date that it happened. If it’s a redundancy payment claim then it is six months.
Types of hearings:
Preliminary hearing - A short hearing which addresses any issues so that the case can proceed normally and smoothly before a full hearing. There may be a disagreement whether or not the claimant was an employee and whether they were entitled to bring the claim. Evidence must be gathered and put together in a document which must be shared with the opposing party.
Full hearing - When all evidence is heard.
What preparation must there be at a Tribunal?
There must be a complete exchange of documents between both parties, which are relevant to the claim. All evidence is to be shown, no surprises are allowed.
What happens at the hearing?
All parties and witnesses must attend the tribunal on time whether this takes place in person or remotely. At the hearing, the Employment Judge usually sets out key issues and checks whether there are any preliminary matters. In most cases, the witness statements have already been lodged and are ‘taken as read’. This means that they are the witnesses’ chief evidence unless the tribunal says otherwise.
What are the outcomes that could be reached?
Reinstatement (They get their job back).
Re-engagement (They return to the organisation, but in a different role).
Compensation.
Payment of wages or monies due to the employee.
How would an employer or employee wish to settle an employment dispute, without reaching a full hearing.
Between themselves directly.
By using the conciliation service offer by ACAS, or by using an internal or external mediator - read our fact sheet on workplace mediation.
Settlement will lead to an agreement through compromising the claim through:
A settlement agreement, or
An agreement achieved through ACAS conciliation (COT3)
What is a settlement agreement?
They can only settle the particular complaint or claims that have been raised in that case, for example unfair dismissal or race discrimination.
They must be in writing.
The employee must have independent legal advice when reviewing the agreement.
