Employment Tribunal Advice & Services
Employment Tribunal representation and advice for employers
Defending a claim made by your employee
Employment Tribunals deal with claims brought against you as employers by your employees relating to their employment or its termination. These can cover a wide range of issues including:
- Unfair dismissal claims
- Wrongful dismissal claims
- Discrimination in the workplace claims
- Equal pay claims
Employment Tribunals can also hear claims against other bodies such as trade unions and professional associations.
Acas Early Conciliation is mandatory and you need to check whether your employee has an Acas Early Conciliation Certificate. This is important because:
- If your employee wanted to bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal, it is a procedural requirement that they have already filled in an Acas Early Conciliation form and obtained an Early Conciliation Certificate
- By starting an EC, they “freeze” the time limit to then bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal. The time limit resumes once an Early Conciliation Certificate is issued, and depending upon the exact dates, time is sometimes extended
- While you can state that you do not wish to settle, this process can be an effective way to reach a settlement, if there is a potential claim
It is often better for you to resolve problems with your employee using the Acas grievance and disciplinary procedures before problems reach an Employment Tribunal claim. A third-party mediator can also help. We can provide a trained mediator. If a claim does reach the Employment Tribunal, any award can be increased or decreased by up to 25% if either side has unreasonably failed to follow the Acas Code.
Although you can represent yourself in a UK Employment Tribunal, specialist Employment Tribunal solicitors increase the chances of successfully defending you against a claim. Tribunal rules are complex and losing or winning can depend on using the right tactics from the outset, so it pays to get advice from Employment Tribunal solicitors as early as possible.
How we will help
If one of your employees is threatening or has already lodged a claim in an Employment Tribunal, we can help. We will also estimate the cost of defending claims at an Employment Tribunal. As well as advising on their prospects of success and the value of their claim, we can negotiate on your behalf, prepare your defence and represent you and your organisation at any hearing. In addition, we can make cost warnings on your behalf if their claim is without merit to encourage them to withdraw without any payment being made. An Employment Tribunal can order either side to pay costs if it thinks they or their Employment Tribunal representation has behaved ‘unreasonably’ during the case.
We provide the expert advice that you need in order to make an informed decision about how to achieve the best outcome for you and your business.
Contact us today on 01273 609911, or email info@ms-solicitors.co.uk.
