New Rules for Employment Tribunal Claims

As part of the Government's ongoing Employment Law Reforms dubbed the 'Red Tape Challenge', Chancellor George Osborne announced this week more changes to the rules surrounding Employment Tribunal Claims, this time aimed at Employment Tribunal Claimants.

Likely to have an even greater impact than pushing out the qualifying period for Unfiar Dismissal Claims form 1 to 2 years, the government intends to introduce fees for bringing employment tribunal claims. These are rumoured to be £250 to start a claim, and a further £1,000 when applying for a hearing date. Large claims, of over £30,000, will have even higher fees.

Will these new rules have the desired effect the Government expect or have they scored an own goal?

Given that the vast majority of Employment Tribunals that are raised are settled out of court, will the introductuion of a fee based system make negotiating a settlement more difficult and cause employees to refuse to settle unless their fees are refunded as part of any settlement, causing more cases to go to Tribunal?

Tell us what you think, is this a positive example of central Government helping the business community or are there other, more important things Government could do to help small and medium sized businesses?