New proposals to radically reform employment tribunals have been announced by Employment Relations Minister Alan Johnson.
The proposals have stemmed from concerns that the current tribunal system is rapidly becoming unmanageable, as demand for them increases rapidly: applications registered have risen from 80,000 in 1997/98 to over 130,000 in 2000/01. The new proposals, which are designed to promote conciliation in the workplace rather than litigation, and to reduce the strain on the employment tribunal system and its users have been published in ?Routes to Resolution: Improving Dispute Resolution in Britain?. They include the requirement for organisations which do not have dispute resolution procedures to set up arrangements for these in-house. Linked with this, awards at employment tribunals would be increased when the resolution procedure has not been used by the employer, and awards would be reduced where an employee has not used the grievance procedures before applying to the tribunal. Another proposal is for charges to be introduced for the use of an employment tribunal, to reduce the cost burden on the taxpayer. Exemptions would apply to those on benefits and in cases of genuine need. Changes to legislation are proposed, to allow employment tribunals to disregard minor procedural errors by employers, provided such errors have made no difference in practice and the dismissal is otherwise fair.
?Routes to Resolution? is available on the DTI website w: http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual/et.htm