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How do Employment Tribunals work?
Employment Tribunals are independent judicial bodies that deal with employment disputes. They are made up of a panel of judges, who will hear both sides of the case and make a decision based on the evidence. In some cases a judge can hear the case sitting on his/her own.
The panel will comprise of one legally trained lawyer (the judge) and two wing members each of whom will have an employee and employer background to ensure fairness.
If you want to bring an employment claim(s), you can bring your case to an Employment Tribunal. This could be if you think you’ve been unfairly dismissed, or if you have been discriminated against.
The first step is to fill in a claim form. This is called an ‘ET1’ form, which sets out the details of your claim. You can get a copy of this from the Employment Tribunal website. Once you’ve done this, you’ll need to send it submit it to the Tribunal, and the easiest way is to do this on-line.
Your case will then be allocated to a particular Employment Tribunal. The Tribunal will process your claim and send a copy to the respondent(s), i.e. your employer.
The respondent (the person or organisation you’re making the claim against) will then have 28 days to respond. They’ll need to fill in an ‘ET3’ form, which sets out their defence.
Once the respondent has filed their ET3, the Tribunal will set a date for a hearing. This will usually be a preliminary hearing. [Link to article] where the issues are identified and the case management is decided by the Tribunal. An order will follow that confirms the Tribunals case management order.
By complying with the case management directions, the case will be ready for a final hearing. At the final hearing, both sides will present their evidence and make their arguments. The Tribunal will then make a decision based on the evidence they’ve heard.
If you’re successful, the Tribunal can make a number of different orders, including ordering your employer to pay you compensation, or ordering them to reinstate you in your job or another job.
If you’re not happy with the decision of the Employment Tribunal, you can appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
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Disclaimer
The above provides a general overview relating to employment tribunals and is not intended nor construed as providing specific legal advice.
This article is for information purposes only and is correct at the time of publication. It does not constitute legal advice.
01.07.2023
