The future of the employment tribunal?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Employment Tribunal.

Design/methodology/approach

Discusses the Employment Tribunal.

Findings

The Employment Tribunal (known as the Industrial Tribunal until 1998) began life in 1964 as a specialist forum to determine disputes about pay, and has grown, both in terms of the number of cases it handles, and the subject areas covered, until in the period 2009‐2010 it dealt with 236,100 claims. This represented an increase of 56 percent on 2008‐2009, mainly as a result of the rise in multiple equal pay claims in the public sector (which rose by nearly 90 percent on 2008‐2009), but also partly as a result of the changing economic climate. It is now the main forum for dealing with employment disputes, and given the background of current economic pressure on employers, the future direction of the tribunal has become a political “hot potato”.

Originality/value

Discusses the Employment Tribunal.

Citation

James, S. (2011), "The future of the employment tribunal?", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 46-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670731111140775