Handling employment tribunal claims

Preparing for a tribunal case

The employment tribunal will write to you with a hearing date for your case at least 14 days in advance. You may apply to postpone the hearing by giving good reasons and alternative dates. The tribunal will inform you if a postponement has been agreed.

Preparing for the case

The key steps are:

• Most employers choose to seek professional advice, eg from a solicitor or an employer's association if you have one. Find out if you qualify for help in preparing your case on the Community Legal Service Direct (CLS) website.
• If the claimant does not adequately explain their claim, you can ask them to provide further information. The tribunal can enforce this if they agree to your request.
• Agree with the other side which documents either of you will use at the hearing, and copy them into a single pack - the agreed bundle.
• Tell the tribunal how many witnesses you intend to call. If a potential witness is unwilling to attend, you can seek a witness order from the tribunal to make them.
• Have written witness statements from yourself and your witnesses.
• In the event the claimant is successful, prepare any evidence that can help minimise the size of the compensation.

Find guidance on what happens at a tribunal hearing at the Employment Tribunal website. The tribunal will write to you giving key dates in your preparation for the hearing.

Counter-claims

In claims for breach of contract you may wish to lodge a counter-claim for breach of contract against the claimant. You have 42 days from the day you receive a copy of the claim form to do this. The tribunal will explain how and when this can be done.

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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