Lawyers question proposed shake-up to employment tribunal system
Employment lawyers have expressed concern about proposed changes to the employment tribunal system.
Under the proposals, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal will double to two years, while employees will be charged fees for bringing tribunal claims. The fees would bring employment tribunals in line with family and civil courts. All claims arising out of employment disputes will first need to be lodged with Acas to allow pre-claim conciliation (PCC) to be offered.
Employment judges will be given powers to sit alone rather than with representatives for employee and employer when hearing unfair dismissal claims, and witness statements will be taken as read so that witnesses no longer need to attend hearings.
Nikki Duncan, employment partner at Bond Pearce, says: “Many of these proposals have been floated previously, some based on encouraging news of successful claims filters such as compulsory mediation in other legal jurisdictions.
“However, when the Acas ‘gateway’ to claims was mooted two years ago, there was concern that people would be deterred from taking their claims further. The first year of PCC seems to have been quite successful, but we don’t yet know if Acas will be given any more resources for this.”
Duncan says Acas would be required to undertake PCC in an estimated additional 57,000 cases to those that are currently processed.
Esther Smith, employment law partner at Thomas Eggar LLP, says: “The imposition of a fee to commence a tribunal claim should reduce the number of claims submitted, but the increase in the qualification period for claiming unfair dismissal, from one year to two, is most unlikely to make any positive impact.
“Those people with between one and two years’ service will still issue proceedings for other claims, such as discrimination or will try to argue that their dismissal falls within one of the categories for which no qualifying period of service is needed.
“Previous attempts to use Acas to reduce the burden on the tribunal system have done nothing to alleviate the problem.”
The consultation closes on 20 April.
