Top tips to avoid an employment tribunal claim

4 August 2008

Email article : Print article : More articles like this

The number of employment tribunal claims rose by one-third last year, according to the Tribunals Service's annual report, up to 189,348, compared with 143,474 in 2006-07. In this hot tip, we provide a few pointers to ensure you stay on the right side of the law and stay out of court.

Keep the statements of employment terms and conditions up to date, for example, changes to salary and working hours. These will become essential should matters ever come to a head. Note: Changes to the National Minimum Wage come into force on 1 October 2008 and changes to Statutory Holiday Entitlement came into force on 1 October 2007, with more changes due in April 2008.
Use a discipline and grievance procedure and, more importantly, ensure staff are aware of both its existence and contents. Click here to download a disciplinary procedure template and a grievance procedure template.
Train managers and supervisors to deal with any problems that arise, following the correct procedures. Most problems can be nipped in the bud if caught early enough and dealt with efficiently.
Keep staff informed as to any changes that could affect their working practice.
Have a clear, open and transparent policy on pay - equal pay claims have featured heavily in this year's tribunal claims.

Be fair in your dealings with all staff and, if redundancies are necessary, help those staff to find new employment. Click here to download a redundancy procedure template bundle, which includes 10 standard letters.
Never dismiss staff on the spot – no matter how grave their alleged crime, there is still a procedure to follow. Click here to download a disciplinary procedure template.
Do not put off awkward meetings or decisions. Try to correct errant behaviour as early as possible.
Make sure that you follow the revised Code of Practice on racial equality in employment that became statutory on 6 April 2006. Download guidance on achieving racial equality in employment from the Commissionfor Racial Equality website.
Unless you are dealing with a major breach of discipline, follow the normal procedure of three warnings.
You can protect your business against tribunal claims by taking out legal expenses insurance. Most members of the FPB (who pay their subscription by Direct Debit) receive legal expenses cover as part of their membership package. This includes up to £75,000 of cover for each section of cover, which includes employment tribunals, tax investigations and much more; the equivalent of £825,000 for all sections of cover. Click here to find out more.

Subscribe to the FPB's Employment Guide – it has checklists, model documents and templates for dealing with almost all aspects of employing people, from recruitment through to dismissal. And, it's very reasonable too! Subscribe here.

Top tips to avoid an employment tribunal claim

Related articles