Note: a subsequent legal change has affected the accuracy of this material.
The Labour Party has told the country its position on ensuring that employees have access to employment law rights.
This position is to do with Employment Tribunal fees. Labour has vowed that if they were to form the next government, they will abolish the current employment tribunal fees that were introduced by the Coalition Government in 2013.
Employment Tribunal fees currently stand at £250 to lodge most claims (simpler claims are £160) and £950 for the final hearing, regardless of length (£230 for simpler claims). Our clients often struggle to pay the hearing fee if they are not covered by insurance. Even if the fees are covered by insurance you usually have to pay it up front and claim it back from the insurers at the end of the case. The tribunal does warn you far in advance that the big fee will become due but not everyone budgets for it.
You don’t have to pay Employment Tribunal fees if your income and assets fall below certain levels. See our post on fee remissions here for further details.
If you win an employment tribunal case that you brought, the employer will (usually) be ordered to reimburse your tribunal fees. The judge has a discretion as to who shoulders the fees, and we have never seen a case where the claimant has won but not been reimbursed.
If a claim is settled, any fees paid are not returned, even if the settlement saves the tribunal the cost of the hearing, so our advice is to pay the hearing fee at the very last minute.
Since the introduction of these fees there has been a severe drop in claims made by employees. It has been estimated that two-thirds of would-be claimants are dropping their Employment Tribunal claims.
Employment law commentators say that this has harmed the rights of employees to have access to justice. They say that it is now too expensive to obtain access to justice.
by Jason Harbourne
Image courtesy of Garry Knight, licenced under CC