News & Insights

Legal Update: Employment tribunal fees won’t be re-introduced.

With the Employment Rights Bill looming on the horizon, it has been reported that hundreds of thousands of employees could now gain rights from the first day of employment as opposed to after two years. Many believe this will lead to a significant increase in claims at the Employment Tribunal.

In response, the Labour government has suggested re-instating a fee for lodging a claim at the Tribunal. For a few years in the 2010s, claimants had to pay a fee in order to lodge a claim. This was shortly abolished in 2017 after a Supreme Court judgment ruled Tribunal fees to be unlawful.

It seems that no fee will be re-introduced as of yet. However, as employers become more uncertain than ever as to whether they are exposed to court liability, how can the government assuage their fears?

Our partner Hina Belitz comments, ‘While not introducing a Tribunal fee is clear recognition that employers already have substantial leverage over employees with less funds, a fee is also a good way to sift out serial and vexatious litigants from employees who are serious about their claims.’

‘This means,’ she reasons, ‘that there is a higher frequency of employers using substantial resources to defend claims that have no reasonable prospect of succeeding. The upcoming Employment Rights Bill will only exacerbate this issue.’