Procedural changes for tribunals

From 6 April 2012, several changes to employment tribunal procedure will come into force.

Witness statements will no longer automatically be read out in employment tribunals. They will be assumed to have been read by the parties and tribunal. Nevertheless, the tribunal will still have the power to direct that they be read out.

Employment tribunals are to gain the power to order the parties to pay witnesses’ expenses and for the losing party to reimburse the other side the cost of doing so.

Finally, lay members are to be dispensed with in unfair dismissal cases. Cases in both the tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal will now be heard by a judge alone, unless directed otherwise.