Employment Tribunal Claims are Soaring!
Employment Tribunal claims are soaring, ACAS officers are telling me so. Tribunals are now sending paperwork out on ET1’s without checking them they are coming in so fast. I have had more in the last 2 weeks than I normally get in 3 months.
We all know why; employers are cutting staff costs by redundancies, short time working and lay offs. Employees can see no reason for not “having a go” to see whether they can obtain some extra cash when they lose their jobs and they are being assisted by the “No win, no fee” operators.
Unfortunately employers are unwittingly playing into their hands by not complying 100% with the regulations; give these knowledgeable people one small error in procedure, such as not issuing a letter calling a meeting, and they are submitting claims for tens of thousands of pounds.
The "game" for the NO WIN NO FEE companies is to make the claim so high that the employer just wishes to settle to get rid of the worry; it's money for old rope! So what is the solution? We must all put in place excellent procedures, fantastic appeal procedures, and a brilliant contract of employment.
All this is good news for HR4UK.com as we offer probably the most cost effective insured procedural system on the Internet. I am not happy though to see the way we are obtaining the business, which is by employers coming to us when they are already in trouble. Some of the situations are quite unbelievable such as a claim for sex discrimination, when the employer was told 4 days after he had dismissed an employee on capability grounds, that she was pregnant. The employee is saying "someone must have told you I was pregnant"!
I don’t want you to have a Tribunal claim to start off your New Year so here are two gifts this Christmas.
We all know why; employers are cutting staff costs by redundancies, short time working and lay offs. Employees can see no reason for not “having a go” to see whether they can obtain some extra cash when they lose their jobs and they are being assisted by the “No win, no fee” operators.
Unfortunately employers are unwittingly playing into their hands by not complying 100% with the regulations; give these knowledgeable people one small error in procedure, such as not issuing a letter calling a meeting, and they are submitting claims for tens of thousands of pounds.
The "game" for the NO WIN NO FEE companies is to make the claim so high that the employer just wishes to settle to get rid of the worry; it's money for old rope! So what is the solution? We must all put in place excellent procedures, fantastic appeal procedures, and a brilliant contract of employment.
All this is good news for HR4UK.com as we offer probably the most cost effective insured procedural system on the Internet. I am not happy though to see the way we are obtaining the business, which is by employers coming to us when they are already in trouble. Some of the situations are quite unbelievable such as a claim for sex discrimination, when the employer was told 4 days after he had dismissed an employee on capability grounds, that she was pregnant. The employee is saying "someone must have told you I was pregnant"!
I don’t want you to have a Tribunal claim to start off your New Year so here are two gifts this Christmas.
- An assessment of how your contracts of employment and personnel procedures will stand up to being tested at Tribunal and also how they will comply with the changes effective from April 2009 – including no obligation advice on how to add protection for your business against Employment Tribunals.
- 10 minutes free advice on any employment matter – bounce your ideas off our specialists about how you wish to handle any staffing matter and probably see a different point of view.
I am a bit of a devil to get hold of at present so I have arranged for Jo or Louise to sort them for you, just ring them on 0870 5133269 or e-mail joanne.franklin@hr4uk.com
Posted by Peter Abraham
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