Handling employment tribunal claims

Possible outcomes from tribunal cases

An employer may either succeed in defending a tribunal claim, or lose the claim, in whole or in part.

Unfair dismissal cases may result in one or more of the following:

• Re-instatement - to the old job as if they had never been away, on the same terms and conditions and with back pay and benefits (eg pension rights) for the period since dismissal.
• Re-engagement - a new job on similar terms and conditions to the old position. Back pay may not be awarded if the employee's conduct contributed to the dismissal.
• Financial compensation - by far the most common outcome.

Tribunals will only order reinstatement or re-engagement if they believe it can actually work.

Apart from cases involving discrimination, there are limits to the amounts of compensation tribunals can award - and awards are often lower than media headlines suggest. Download statistics on average tribunal awards from the Employment Tribunals Service website (PDF).

As of 1 October 2004 compensation may be increased or decreased if either of the parties have not followed the statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures before the claim is made. Download information on discipline and grievance at work from the Acas website (PDF).

Costs may be awarded only in very limited circumstances - broadly, where the tribunal considers one party has acted unreasonably in pursuing or conducting their case.

To deter abuse of the system, changes were made to the costs rules in October 2004. Tribunals are now able, in certain circumstances, to:

• make an award against a party for time spent by the other party in preparing their case, if the other party is not legally represented
• make orders for wasted costs directly against paid representatives

Get advice on employment tribunals at the Employment Tribunal website.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• What happens after an employment tribunal receives a claim
• Alternative ways of resolving employment disputes
• Acas conciliation
• Preparing for a tribunal case
• Tribunal procedure - hearings before/after the main hearing
• Tribunal procedure - the main hearing
• Possible outcomes from tribunal cases
• Challenging a tribunal judgement

 

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