Workplace Report December 2009

Law - Tribunal procedures

Employment tribunals – the key developments

• The statutory grievance procedure under the Employment Act 2002 does not apply to claims for redundancy pay or for holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations 1998 which is outstanding on the termination of employment (case 1).

• It is unlikely to be a good excuse for missing a Sex Discrimination Act time limit that claimants want to await the outcome of internal grievance procedures or do not know their legal rights, when they could have made enquiries (case 2).

• A tribunal cannot award a 10% – 50% increase in compensation for breach of the statutory dispute resolution procedures on sums which are paid shortly before the tribunal hearing, because no “award” is made (case 3)

• When deciding whether to allow a review against the strike-out of proceedings, a tribunal need not rigidly follow the list of factors in the Civil Procedure Rules (case 4).

Case details are available at www.employmentappeals.gov.uk (EAT) and www.bailii.org (Court of Appeal). Call 020 8686 9141 for details of the journal Industrial Relations Law Reports (IRLR).