Columnist

Why do Employers end up in Employment Tribunals?

Fact: There were 186,300 claims accepted by the Employment Tribunal Service in 2011/2012. That is over 3,500 claims each week.

Fact: There are more than 500,000 claims still outstanding.

Fact: The median award at Tribunal is £6,065

Fact: The cost of representation at the Employment Tribunal is estimated to be £8,500 + VAT or £4,000 + VAT for a one day hearing.

Then why do employers end up in the Employment Tribunal when more money is spent on defending Employment Tribunal claims than bringing them?

Small businesses cannot afford the extravagance of an HR department, and therefore cannot afford to keep up with the frequent changes in employment legislation. Employment law changes occur normally each April and October. If you fail to notice a change to the legislation, then the dismissal is almost automatically unfair. The potential damage to the credibility of the organisation by having a claim made against it in the Employment Tribunal {which is a public hearing} can be considerable. Some employers now presume that declaring redundancies will bring a claim for unfair dismissal or discrimination. Small businesses are therefore extremely vulnerable to frivolous and vexatious claims that rely on a “breach” of the employment legislation where the burden of maintaining HR compliance is too high.

Apparently, only one in ten Employment Tribunal cases results in a decision in favour of the Claimant, but in 10 out of 10 cases, the Company is left to face considerable legal fees. Financial and management resources that are redirected to contending a claim is money that is not available for generative investing. Therefore the main beneficiaries in Employment Tribunal cases are the lawyers.

The answer:

Having prepared cases and represented organisations over the past thirty five years, at more than seventy Employment Tribunals, in industries and businesses ranging from Civil Engineering and Construction to Brewing and Manufacturing, with 95% of these cases being found in favour of the Respondent, {Employment Tribunals are not actually “won” but only go to prove that the Respondent had complied with the prevailing employment legislation}. Employment Tribunals are not “won” on the day but as a consequence of the robustness of the Respondent’s employment documentation. i.e. Up-to-date and well written Staff Handbooks and Statements of Particulars of Main Terms of Employment, together with staff understanding and previous adherence and guidance relating to current employment policies and procedures.

Therefore, as a result of this experience, I have developed simple but effective ground-breaking Employment Law strategies, that have enabled, over the past seven years, almost 100% of my retained clients to be Tribunal free and be declared to be in a Tribunal Exclusion Zone. A TEZ. In cost terms, at less than quarter of the outlay of resisting a claim.

If any of my clients had a claim made against them at the Employment Tribunal I would feel that the service had failed.

For more information about my services, please visit www.thebusiness-medic.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Dane .