What is an Employment Tribunal?

Employment Tribunals hear cases involving employment disputes. They are less formal than some other courts, but you give evidence under an oath or affirmation, and if you lie you can be convicted of perjury.

Cases are usually heard by a panel of three people – referred to as a Tribunal - that consists of a legally qualified Employment Judge, and two 'lay members' that represent the employee and employer sectors. The lay members use their respective employment experience to bring balance to proceedings. Sometimes the Employment Judge will preside over a hearing alone, for example, to hear any legal arguments.

There is no charge for making a claim at an Employment Tribunal. So unless you are paying a representative such as a solicitor there is no cost in making a claim.

If you live in Northern Ireland there are some differences in the law.

Do you need to go to an Employment Tribunal?

It's often better to try to sort out problems through discussion. Alternatively, your employer’s grievance and disciplinary process may be useful to sort your problem or try the help of a third party (mediator or conciliator). Before you make an Employment Tribunal claim, it would be useful to seek specialist advice, particularly about your chance of success.

If you have a dispute which is likely to turn into an Employment Tribunal case, Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) may be able to offer you a free conciliation service before you submit a claim to the Employment Tribunal. You should contact the Acas helpline to find out whether this would be suitable for you.

Can you go to an Employment Tribunal?

If you have tried informal and formal options for sorting out your problem at work and you still do not feel your concerns have been addressed, you may want to consider making an Employment Tribunal claim.

Most people find submitting a legal claim a challenging process and it is important to understand the key aspects of the law and procedures that will apply in your Employment Tribunal case. You probably want to take advice at this stage if you have not done so already.

Before making a claim to an Employment Tribunal, you must:

• check that your claim is something that an Employment Tribunal can consider
• make sure you are within the statutory time limits for bringing a claim

It is advisable that you follow your employer's grievance and disciplinary procedures before making an Employment Tribunal claim.

Claims that can be heard by an Employment Tribunal

An Employment Tribunal can only decide cases relating to specific rights, so it is important that you know what you are claiming. For example, if you are complaining about not being paid, it's called 'unlawful deductions from wages'. If your employer treats you less favourably because you are disabled, it's 'disability discrimination'.

For more information read the articles on this website that most closely match your problem.

Time limits

In most cases you must make an Employment Tribunal application within three months of the date when the matter you are complaining about happened. This time limit can vary. If your application is received after three months, the Employment Tribunal will usually not accept it. In very exceptional circumstance Employment Tribunals can extend this time limit.

You can check the time limit for your case by calling the Employment Tribunal helpline on 08457 959 775.

Following grievance and disciplinary principles

From 6 April 2009, Employment Tribunals will consider whether a failure to follow the principles in the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures (the Code) was unreasonable. The Employment Tribunal can choose to increase or decrease awards by up to 25 per cent in relation to the level of compliance of either you or your employer.

The Code sets out the principles of what you and your employer should do to achieve a reasonable standard of behaviour in handling grievance and disciplinary cases.

Further guidance can be found in 'Discipline and grievances at work: the Acas guide'. This guidance, which does not form part of the Code, has been prepared by Acas to help you and your employer understand the Code and how to reflect it in procedures and behaviour.