Understanding & Preventing Tribunal Claims

How do i go about preventing tribunal claims and awards ?

Many businesses give little thought to the possibility of having to face a tribunal claim or the costs they could be facing.

Do you have formal contracts, HR policies and systems in place ?

One of the first things that a tribunal will look at is whether you have in place formal contracts, HR policies and systems and if they are up-to-date.

What if I didn’t know the law and how to do things correctly ?

As an employer you have a legal responsibility to make sure you understand the law, and that all your systems and documentation adheres to current legal requirements. Ignorance is no defence in tribunal, and not having the correct up to date process & documentation could end up being very expensive.

How do I know if my contracts, HR policies and systems are currently legally compliant ?

The only way to really know if you are adhering to current employment legislation and HR / ACAS best practice is to undertake or have undertaken a full HR Audit on your HR systems, contracts, documents and policies as the law is constantly changing, and needs to be kept up to date. Many business consultants may charge for this service.

How can I find out if my business is legally compliant for free?

KeyHR offers a completely FREE HR AUDIT to help business make sure they stay on the right side of the law.

What do I get with a free HR Audit ?

You will get a comprehensive in depth HR report of how legally compliant your business currently is, and what needs to be put in place to help keep your business on the right side of the law. 

Our FREE HR audit can be undertaken over the phone, via zoom or onsite. Book your FREE HR audit  here.

What grounds can tribunal claims be brought?

An employee can bring a tribunal claim for any number of reasons including:

• Unfair dismissal i.e. where the correct legal process was not followed or the employee was treated in an unfair manner
• Discrimination based on disability, race, religious belief, age, gender / gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage / civil partnership, political opinion
• Breach of contract i.e. making changes to a role, working environment or terms of employment without notice / consultation
• Redundancy pay
• Unlawful /unauthorised deduction of wages
• Working hours
• Equal pay
• Written terms / contract of employment
• Lack of consultation, redundancies and or business transfer ( TUPE)
• Health & Safety
• Trade union member or none membership
• Failure to adhere to / provide a statutory right

What are the length of service qualifying periods to be able to make a tribunal claims ?

Unfair Dismissal Claim

An employee has to be employed for 2 years (actually 23 months & 3 weeks) to bring a claim for unfair dismissal unless the dismissal is deemed to be automatically unfair.

Automatic Unfair Dismissal Claim

There is no qualifying employment term / length where the termination can be deemed to be automatically unfair.

What is an automatically unfair dismissal ?

There are in excess of 50 reasons why an employee may claim automatic unfair dismissal mainly designed to protect an employee statutory rights e.g

Time limits for bringing a tribunal claims?

Maximum and average tribunal claims awards ?

How can a simple mistake result in you losing in tribunal ?

The law and its interpretation is constantly changing, and it is very easy to say or do the wrong thing that then results in you losing a tribunal claim on a simple technicality.

e.g.

In the case of Kingsway v Tonks – Mr Tonks took £20 out of the cash till to buy some cigarettes. He was told by the manager he could not take the companies money. Mr Tonks took the money anyway saying he was borrowing it.

Mr Tonks was subsequently dismissed for theft. At tribunal, Kingsway Scotland lost the case, a they dismissed Mr Tonks for theft and Mr Tonks had stated he was borrowing the money when he took it. Therefore a dismissal for theft was deemed unfair.