The Supreme Court has ruled that employment tribunal fees are unlawful, with the Government abolishing them with immediate effect.

Experts are predicting a surge in the number of employees making employment tribunal claims. 

Employers are at risk

Since July 2013, if employees felt you treated them badly and wanted to make a claim, they had to pay fees of £160 or £250 to file a claim and a further £250 or £950 to have it heard by the Tribunal (depending on the type of claim).

The Supreme Court ruled that fees block access to justice and are discriminatory against certain groups.

As a result many employees simply couldn’t afford to take it any further than through ACAS Early Conciliation and many claims were abandoned. Now fees no longer exist -  they can proceed —regardless if their claim is valid or not.

Is there any Good news? 

Possibly  -  if you lost a claim since 2013 and had to reimburse your employee’s fees, you could be due a refund.

But don’t expect it to happen straight away. This affects a lot of employers and employees and the government are still working out how to reimburse everyone. 

Employers need to be careful 

  • Employees who simply couldn't afford to make a claim will no longer face a financial barrier.
  • They are more likely to take action for low value claims, such as unpaid wages .
  • There may be more claims where an employee is taking a chance to get what they want from you.
  • Whilst the ACAS Early Conciliation system will try to filter some weak cases it cant stop everything and it will be up to the employee if they want to take the chance.
  • The ruling change applies to all fees and includes Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) fees, employer fees for review of a judgment and so on.

You need to make sure that your working practices come up to scratch to prevent issues occurring. With AB Assist we can provide a full health check of your HR policies and can assist should tribunal papers come through your door.  

To find out more, please Acklam Bond Solicitors on 01254 872272​

Or visit http://www.qualitysolicitors.com/acklam-bond/services/business/employment-law