Watson Esam | News | Employment Tribunals At 10 Year High

The Tribunals Service issued its report on 6 July showing a huge increase in the amount of employment tribunal cases brought against employers.  The statistics show that in 2009/2010 there were 236,100 claims, compared with 151,000 claims in 2008/2009 – a massive increase of 56%.  It is reported that this is mainly due to a rise in multiple cases (where two or more people bring cases which are processed together, involving one or more area of law - usually against a single employer (but not necessary so), for instance in TUPE cases, and always arising out of the same or very similar circumstances).  Such types of claims rose by 90%!  However the changing economic climate is also shown as contributing.  Individual claims rose by 14%, but the effect is that total accepted claims are at their highest for 10 years, indeed they have almost doubled.

The highest number of claims were based on breach of working time, followed by unauthorised deductions from wages, but there were 126,300 claims associated with unfair dismissal, breach of contract and redundancy which is 17% higher than for 2008-09 and likely to be a result of the economic recession.

So what does this mean to employers?  Well, more expense for a start, as defending tribunal claims can be costly.  Jay Bhayani, head of employment law at Sheffield city centre solicitors Watson Esam says “Employers are in the middle of extremely turbulent times, and the storm is not about to die down just yet.  Many businesses have had to cut their work force and take steps which they would have preferred not to have taken.  It is more essential now than ever that employers make sure that they have effective policies and procedures in place for dealing with HR issues – and they follow them – to keep them out of the employment tribunals!  We have seen more TUPE cases than ever before and they can be extremely complicated, so it is vital that advice is taken in the very early stages to make sure that there are no breaches.  We offer businesses a full employment and HR package that can include an insurance backed scheme which can pay the cost of employment disputes, including the cost of any award up to £100,000.”

For prompt advice and assistance please contact Jay Bhayani on 0114 275 3350 or email jay.bhayani@watson-esam.co.uk.

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