Employment Law FAQ
Tribunal Awards
How much could an Employment Tribunal award if an employee
makes a claim?
For Unfair Dismissal cases, awards are normally capped at
£68,400 (this usually increases each February). The award comprises
up to three elements:
BASIC AWARD is calculated in the same way as
redundancy pay (see below).
COMPENSATORY AWARD based on loss of earnings.
It looks at what the employee's net loss has been up to the date of
the Tribunal, and what future loss can reasonably be anticipated.
To assess future loss, a number of questions are considered
including:
- How long has it taken, or will it take the employee to find a
new job?
- Has the employee made reasonable efforts to find a new
job?
- Is that job likely to pay more or less than they earned
previously?
- Has the employee lost out in terms of their pension
provisions?
- Has the employee incurred expenses in finding a new role?
- Has the employee lost future statutory rights given that they
will not have full employment rights for the first 12 months of
their new role?
- Has the employer shown that they simply did not like the
employee and therefore contributed to the situation?
- Has the employee contributed to the situation by behaving
unreasonably?
- Has either party failed to follow the statutory Disciplinary
and Dismissal Procedure/Grievance Procedure?
ADDITIONAL AWARD can also be made if the
employer has been ordered to reinstate or reengage the employee but
has refused to do so.
CALCULATION OF BASIC AWARD
| In respect of service at ages: |
Number of weeks pay for each completed year at that age |
| 17 - 21 |
0.5 |
| 22 - 40 |
1 |
| 41 + |
1.5 |
A maximum of 20 years' service is taken into account.