Category Archives: Employment tribunal compensation

Employment tribunal claims statistics – interesting details

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On examining the statistics from the latest employment tribunal claim statistics for the year ending March 31, 2011, a few statistics really stood out.

Firstly, it was very how very few reinstatement or re-engagement orders were made. Out of 49,600 unfair dismissal claims, tribunals awarded just 8 reinstatements.

Also noticeable were the significant differences between the average award for different types of claim. Claims for unfair dismissal compensation, for example, resulted in an average award of £8924 – this compares with, for example, an average of  £13,911 for sex discrimination claims, £14,130 for disability discrimination and a huge average award of £30,299 for employment tribunal age discrimination claims.

It was also interesting to compare the number of claims made – apart from the huge number of claims involving the working time directive [artificially inflated because of resubmitted multiple claims] and Unlawful Deduction of Wages Claims [there  were remarkably 71,300 of those], unfair dismissal provided the largest number of claims – 47,900. With regard to discrimination cases – equal pay claims dominated [34,600] with sex discrimination claims totaling 18,300. It was particular noticeable that age discrimination cases had almost doubled in 2 years to 6,800 – and given the huge size of the average award for age discrimination, this is perhaps one area where employers should take particular care.

2010-2011 Employment Tribunal statistics released

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The 2010-2011 statistics for the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal have just been released.

The latest figures actually show a drop of 8% in the number of employment tribunal claims received which contrasted with an increase of 9% in the number of claims that are actually being dealt with at tribunal.

There is, however, a significant difference in the figures between different sorts of claims – for example, whilst the number of employment tribunal redundancy and unfair dismissal claims has dipped slightly, the number of age discrimination claims rose by 15%.

The average award for employment tribunal unfair dismissal compensation was £4,591 with the average discrimination case resulting in compensation of between £5,000-£6,500.

The highest level of unfair dismissal compensation was, for a whopping £181,754 -though the fact that this award exceeds the statutory cap suggests that this dismissal claim may have been in relation to health and safety or a whistleblowing complaint.

Discrimination claims in 2009-2010 saw even higher levels of compensation – the highest award for sex discrimination being £289,167 and for employment tribunal disability discrimination and absolutely enormous £729,347

Equality for agency workers arrives on October 1

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Employers, not to mention recruitment agencies, will have to pay close attention to the new regulations affecting agency workers. After October 1st, following an initial qualifying period [see below], agency workers become entitled to similar rights and working conditions enjoyed by full-time permanent workers – including the right to receive the same pay as full timers doing the same or a similar job.

The initial qualification period for the new rights is 12 weeks – however if any employer wants to avoid the risk of and handing over full timer’s rights to any agency worker, they will need to terminate the employee contract of the agency work out within a 12 week- and will then need to make sure that there is at least a 6 weeks gap before taking on the same agency worker. The relations also include wide-ranging anti-avoidance provisions – e.g., you can’t avoid handing over equal rights to agency workers simply by moving them to a different department.

Agency workers are also entitled to other rights including car parking, canteen and childcare arrangements from the very 1st day they work for an employer – although, of course, they will also be subject to any waiting lists for such rights which also apply to permanent staff.

In the event that any temporary employee is likely to benefit from these regulations the recruitment agency has to ask the employer to provide basic information about working conditions and wages etc.

Any employment or recruitment agency in breach of the regulations is at risk of an employment tribunal claim for compensation being made by the disgruntled temp.

Our employment lawyers‘ advice for employers ? Make sure your HR department, or whoever is responsible for hiring temps, is aware of the regulations, which adds yet more red tape to the ever growing employment law burden on UK employers.

 

The growing risks for employers talking about ex employees

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Many employers have become aware of the risks in giving an inaccurate reference about a former employee. As a result some employers now restrict a reference to a brief confirmation of the dates someone was employed and what he or she did – a sad development which means that such a reference is usually of little or no use to a prospective employer.

A recent dismissal claim case has shown that it is not only references that can be a source of liability for an Employer. It was held recently that an Employer was liable for negligent misstatements about an ex employee in an email sent by a member of staff to a new employer that resulted in dismissal. In that case the duty imposed on the Employer to take reasonable care in preparing a reference was extended to the statements made in the email. The ex employee won an employment tribunal claim for damages against the former employer.

For an employer, especially a small business, this is yet another employment law headache to think about. Any  sensible employer should therefore alert employees not to make remarks about former employees to a new employer if those remarks could be seen as in anyway critical of a former employee.

A well drafted staff handbook with an appropriate email and internet policy can help – by informing staff that no emails or other communications should be made about an ex employee that is anyway critical unless the Employer has approved its contents and authorised its  sending. It can warn that any employee breaching the policy can face disciplinary action.

Also if someone has left acrimoniously or there are employees who fell out a further word with remaining employees reminding them not to talk about the departing employee could be a timely reminder.

As far as those terminations of employment which are regulated by a compromise agreement is  concerned, it is common for employers to commit themselves in such agreements to use reasonable care to ensure nothing derogatory is said about the leaving employee by members of staff. This recent case establishes that there is a real risk that ex employees can take action if untrue remarks are made about them, which causes damage to their future employment.

Whether you are an employee or employee, don’t take any chances with your employment dispute. Speak to our specialist employment solicitors on 0800 1404544.

Unfair dismissal of an employee – not just a matter of common sense

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When your employment contract comes to an end by your employer requiring you to leave it is said that you have been “dismissed”.

Any employee who has worked for an Employer for more than one year has statutory rights written into his contact of employment not to be unfairly dismissed. For certain statutory rights e.g. maternity these are given immediately and you do not wait one year.

This means that in order to dismiss fairly the employer has to use a fair procedure to reach a decision to dismiss for  a reason that Statute says is fair. A fair reason can be for  redundancy or capability of the employee or conduct of the employee or that the employee could not continue to work without contravening a statutory duty or restriction.

If an employee is dismissed with these statutory rights the burden is on the employer in any employment tribunal claim to establish a fair reason and procedure for the dismissal.

The original idea was that employment legislation would create an environment where the non lawyer could understand rights and obligations in employment. Instead, even an experienced employment solicitor has to keep regularly updated with the many changes to the law from the cases being fought in the Tribunals and the Courts.

Therefore if you have been, or are being dismissed, or if you are an employer who wants to dismiss someone you will need legal advice on your rights and obligations to make a correct decision either that you have a claim for unfair dismissal compensation or to avoid one being brought against you successfully.

You can find out more about employment law and unfair dismissal employment tribunal claims on our website www.bishopslaw.com

Taking Employers to an Employment Tribunal –using No Win, No Fee

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The Employment Tribunal may be the only available option if you and your employer can’t come to a resolution over a dispute.

You may be surprised to hear that there are [in all but very, very exceptional cases] no legal costs awarded when it comes to making an Employment Tribunal claim. Applying incurs no legal fees and most of the time there is no way in which you can be forced to pay the legal costs of your employer, even if you lose the case. However, you will always have to pay your own legal costs to your own employment solicitor, regardless of the outcome of the claim.

The initial idea of the Employment Tribunal was to create an efficient and informal method of dispute resolution. The Employment Tribunal also gives people the opportunity to represent themselves. However, this is unfamiliar territory for many people; hence some of them decide to employ the use of employment lawyers. The total cost of doing this will inevitably vary in every case but, on average, a rough guess is that legal costs for the employee is likely to be around £3000 before VAT-although it can be significantly higher.

It is not surprising that some people choose to employ the services of a solicitor. If you are worried about the costs of employing an employment solicitor, you can find ones that operate on a “No win No fee” basis. We do offer a no win no fee employment tribunal service – for appropriate claims.

Remember that you should act quickly, because there is usually a strict time limit on making claims for  Employment Tribunal compensation. Most employees involved in any dismissal claim must make a claim within three months of them being dismissed. In most non-dismissal cases, a letter of complaint must be sent within three months of the issue arising. Additionally, the Employment Tribunal should receive a claim form within six months of the issue arising.

If you’re thinking of making a claim to the employment tribunal – call our specialist solicitors today on [01722] 422300 or e-mail our team at advice@employmenttribunalclaim.co.uk

Equal pay and Maternity Rights – New Government Consultation

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From 2015, the Government plans on introducing a new system that will enable parents to have more flexible leave from work. This has come about as a result of an extensive review into existing UK Employment Law.

The proposed plans entitle mothers to eighteen weeks of paid maternity leave around the time they give birth. This can all be taken at once. When the eighteen weeks maternity leave and the initial paternity leave has been taken, a further thirty weeks of leave can be shared between each parent. Seventeen of the thirty weeks will be paid. At the moment, leave cannot be shared between the mother and father of a child.

In cases where employers can’t come to an agreement with their employee about how the time off is taken, the current proposals say that an employer can make sure that the leave is all taken at once. Business needs may require employers to ask their employee to come back temporarily during busy times, or conversely ask them to remain off for the entire time. The current proposals also state that each parent could have four weeks’ paid parental leave within a year of the child being born.

Furthermore, consideration is also being given by the government to proposals that in any employment tribunal claim with the tribunal thinks that there has been gender discrimination regarding equal pay, they will have the power to order the employer to carry out a pay audit in their own organisation with the employer also being forced to publish the resulting findings.

Our experienced employment lawyers urge any employer who is unsure about employment law or procedure to take no chances – but to take specialist legal advice before taking any action – or risk expensive employment tribunal compensation claims.