rising Employment Tribunal claims – what lessons can charities
learn?
The number of Employment Tribunal (ET) claims has risen by 56%
in the last year, according to official statistics recently
published by the Tribunals Service. We ask why and what lessons can
be learned for those within the charities sector?
The 56% increase in ET claims shows that, when compared with the
other types of tribunal in the Tribunals Service (where the overall
increase was 26%), ETs are in a league of their own. Most of the
increase is put down to so-called "multiple" claims, where a group
of people bring very similar claims against the same employer, such
as ongoing Equal Pay claims. Multiple claims have doubled in the
last year and account for three-fifths of the entire outstanding
caseload of the Tribunals Service. However, aside from these cases,
there has been an inevitable (albeit smaller at 17%) increase of
recession-related unfair dismissal, breach of contract and
redundancy claims.
One noticeable type of claim that seems to be bucking the trend,
is for failure to inform and consult with employees in collective
redundancy situations. This was down from 11,400 in 2008/9 to 7,500
this year. It is clear that the number of redundancies over the
past year hasn't fallen, so this may mean that employers are more
aware of their legal obligations and taking advice before they take
action. Special consultation requirements apply where it is
proposed to dismiss 20 or more people at one establishment within a
90 day period. What many employers don't realise is that this can
sometimes include situations where the employer is simply trying to
achieve a change in employees' terms and conditions, by dismissing
and re-engaging staff on new terms. In contrast to claims for
failure to inform and consult, claims for redundancy pay have
almost doubled. Employers in the Charity sector who are still
having to think about redundancies and restructuring in the coming
year would do well to heed these statistics.
So, what can Charities do to try and avoid being caught up in
this system, or at the very least, be prepared for a day at a
Tribunal?
- Make sure your HR staff know your own organisation's employment
policies and procedures thoroughly, and get managers trained in
them.
- Encourage transparency and fairness at all levels of the
organisation.
- Take advice early on.
- Take full notes of meetings and record why decisions are
made.
- Try hard to understand an employee's perspective, even if it
seems illogical. Attempts to deal with points raised carefully and
sympathetically will generally impress an ET.
- Ensure consistency of treatment between all staff.
