Employment Law Update (September 2010)

Tribunal Service reports huge rise in number of employment tribunals

Employment tribunal cases soared last year due to the rising number of employees fighting back against credit crunch cutbacks.

New research from the Tribunal Service has revealed a 56 per cent rise in workers bringing claims to tribunal in the 12 months ending 31 March 2010.

236,100 workers brought claims to tribunal, compared to 151,000 in the previous year. The figures are three times higher than the numbers recorded in the late 1990s. Multiple claims rose by almost 90 per cent on 2008-9 figures and if those were also taken into account, a total of 392,800 cases were recorded.

Kevin Sadler, chief executive of the Tribunals Service said, “The increase in claims was largely as a result of the rise in multiple claims but also as a result of the recession. There is no doubt that economic conditions have contributed to an increase in the number of cases received,” he said.

In terms of payouts, the courts granted around £1 billion to workers who claimed they had been wrongly dismissed or suffered discrimination. For disability discrimination, the largest payout was £729,347. The most successful race discrimination claimant won £374,922 whilst the largest award for sex discrimination was £442,366.

Just under a quarter (95,200) of the total 392,800 claims were related to the Working Time Directive and 75,500 were due to unauthorised deductions under the Wages Act. 126,300 claims were linked to unfair dismissal, breach of contract and redundancy. Race discrimination claims hit 5,700.