Employment tribunal fees ruled unlawful by the supreme court

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40727400

Fees for those bringing employment tribunal claims have been ruled unlawful, and the government will now have to repay up to £32m to claimants.

Fees of up to £1,200 in 2013 were introduced, leading to a 79% reduction over three years. Trade union Unison argued the fees prevented workers accessing justice.

The Ministry of Justice said the government would take immediate steps to stop charging and refund payments.

Reply 1

anosmianAcrimony

20

Fantastic. That's what we keep the unions around for, eh?

Reply 2

ChaoticButterfly

20

I see Corbyn has got through another manifesto commitment.

Spoiler

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 3

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

**** yeah

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

I see Corbyn has got through another manifesto commitments.

Spoiler

How's he doing on the old chestnut "vote Corbyn and have your tuition fees cancelled" front?

Reply 5

RogerOxon

21

Original post by uberteknik

How's he doing on the old chestnut "vote Corbyn and have your tuition fees cancelled" front?

To be fair, he didn't get to form the government. He also had Diane Abbott doing the maths.

Reply 6

ChaoticButterfly

20

Original post by uberteknik

How's he doing on the old chestnut "vote Corbyn and have your tuition fees cancelled" front?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/damian-green-university-tuition-fees-conservative-minister-bright-blue-think-tank-a7818891.html

Spoiler

Reply 7

RF_PineMarten

OP

18

Original post by uberteknik

How's he doing on the old chestnut "vote Corbyn and have your tuition fees cancelled" front?

Cancelling existing student debt for those who have already paid tuition fees was never a policy comittment in the first place and still isn't. Scrapping tuition fees on the other hand is Labour policy, and is still in place as a policy.

Though we should maybe avoid derailing this thread with it, considering we already have threads about that "story".

Reply 8

Captain Haddock

18

Fantastic news. Were we really supposed to believe 79% of tribunal cases were frivolous? No doubt these detestable exactions have dissuaded thousands of workers from seeking the justice they deserve. Who knows how many pestilential employers have been allowed to get away with their grievous transgressions against the worker? No longer shall the vulpine capitalist have leave to go about his wily ways. May the law confound his devices and frustrate his designs, yea, that his inhumane contrivances, thus uprooted, may bear no fruit.

Oh wait this all means **** once we leave the EU and lose all our rights lol

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 9

RF_PineMarten

OP

18

Original post by Captain Haddock

Fantastic news. Were we really supposed to believe 79% of tribunal cases were frivolous? No doubt these detestable exactions have dissuaded thousands of workers from seeking the justice they deserve. Who knows how many pestilential employers have been allowed to get away with their grievous transgressions against the worker? No longer shall the vulpine capitalist have leave to go about his wily ways. May the law confound his devices and frustrate his designs, yea, that his inhumane contrivances, thus uprooted, may bear no fruit.

Oh wait this all means **** once we leave the EU and lose all our rights lol

I read somewhere that this judgement doesn't rely on EU law much, or even the human rights act, but instead relies on common law and everyone having access to justice regardless of wealth. So this should be well insulated against Brexit and an authoritarian Tory government rewriting the human rights act.

I'd also say that this whole affair is a very strong rebuttal to anyone who claims that the Conservatives are "the party of working people". They literally got a venture capitalist party donor to write a pro-corporate wishlist of anti-worker employment law which they then introduced with glee.

Reply 10

RF_PineMarten

OP

18

Original post by Foo.mp3

Should be some incentive not to commence tribunal proceedings on a whim/the off chance, but it is quite wrong to impose steep fees :scrooge:

I'm fairly sure that those who make frivolous claims and are found out can be blacklisted by a lot of companies. Not many people would risk that for a small financial reward.

You should never be charging these kind of fees, because it stops those with a genuine case but not enough money from pursuing the justice they deserve, meaning unscrupulous employers are pretty much free to abuse low paid workers. Come down hard on those found to be bringing frivolous claims instead, don't just impose financial barriers to justice.

Great news.

Employment tribunals neeed to be stopped. The potential threat of one discourages firms from firing useless workers. That harms productivity, hits profits and holds the country back.

Reply 13

username1799249

19

Original post by Whiskey&Freedom

Employment tribunals neeed to be stopped. The potential threat of one discourages firms from firing useless workers. That harms productivity, hits profits and holds the country back.

No it doesn't. There are well laid out guidelines for dismissing employees based on evidence. The whole process isn't rocket science. It is just a shame employers often can't follow their own procedures.

Reply 14

nulli tertius

21

Original post by Captain Haddock

Fantastic news. Were we really supposed to believe 79% of tribunal cases were frivolous?

What was supposed to happen, in Grayling's parallel universe, was that dismissed employees were supposed to see no-win no-fee lawyers who would sift out the weak cases and fund the tribunal fees for the strong ones. The tribunal fees were only going to be a cashflow issue, because when the worker one, the employer would be ordered to pay the tribunal fee.

But:-

Tribunals do not award costs so the lawyer would have to be paid out of the winnings

Most succesful tribunal awards are for modest amounts of money and would be uneconomic for lawyers to run on no win no fee.

Only about 50% of tribunal wins are ever paid by the employer

Tribunal fees are lawful provided they are affordable (the Supreme Court said so. Grayling was greedy at the expense of what he thought would be the legal profession with eye-watering fees.

Employment tribunal fees ruled unlawful by the supreme court

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