Employment tribunal - Essay Example

Effectiveness of Employment Tribunals in Resolving Disputes Employment Tribunals were established in the UK in 1964 to hear cases related to disputes that arise between employees and their employers. The most common of the cases that appear before the tribunals are those that have to do with discrimination, unfair dismissal and redundancy payment. The establishment of the tribunals was aimed at offering accessible and cheap processes for resolving employment disputes with minimal legalistic constraints (Edge, 2008).

Since the tribunals were established, however, there have been debates on how effective they have been in resolving employment disputes (Dickens and Neal, 2006). According to statistics released by the Employment Tribunals Service, the claims accepted by tribunals in 2006 totaled 115,039. This figure showed a great improvement from the previous year when only 86,181 claims had been accepted. Of the claims that were accepted in 2006, 18% of them got a successful full hearing. The rest were withdrawn, settled, disposed of or unsuccessful.

The tribunals passed an average award for unfair dismissal cases of 8,679 pounds. For successful discrimination cases, the average award was set at between 5,540 and 9020 pounds. A total of 867 decisions made by Employment tribunals were later appealed, of which only 298 cases were allowed. The rest were either withdrawn or dismissed (Edge, 2008). These statistics clearly indicate that although the tribunals were formed to help employees and employers solve any disputes among themselves in an amicable manner, it has not been an easy task to carry out this duty (Selwyn, 2006).

One of the main issues that have been hampering the effectiveness of the employment Tribunals in the UK is lack of independence. There are normally too many vested interests within the tribunals themselves. It is quite common to find some employers or their lawyers influencing tribunal proceedings so as to get the outcome they want. Although employer manipulation of the tribunals is very common, there are also instances of employees influencing tribunal decisions. This impartiality has reflected very negatively on the work of employment tribunals and many employees and some employers have lost faith in the institution (Dickens and Neal, 2006).

There have been complainants of wastefulness, frustrations and frequent delays within the tribunal system. This could be partly due to new complex regulations which make it hard for fairness and speedy justice to prevail (Dickens and Neal, 2006). There has also been an increase in the reliance of lawyers in the tribunals and this only makes the process more expensive than it was meant to be. The system also seems to be overstretched since there are too many cases to hear and they cannot all be heard at the same time.

This causes delay and many people end up withdrawing their cases without having been heard or compensated (Edge, 2008). The effectiveness of Employment tribunals in the UK can be enhanced by making putting in place measures to ensure that everyone gets a fair hearing, at an affordable cost and within the shortest time possible (Dickens and Neal, 2006). Weak and vexatious cases should not be allowed to clog up the tribunal system. The tribunal members should be individuals with high integrity so that they can make decisions without prejudice.

Proper regulations should be implemented to ensure that small employment related cases are amicably solved within the workplace. This will in effect lessen the workload of employment tribunals which will now be able to solve more serious cases without pressure (Selwyn, 2006). References Dickens, L. and Neal, A.C. (2006). The Changing Institutional Face of British Employment Relations. Amsterdam: Kluwer International Press. Edge, H. S. (2008). Employment Tribunals. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and development.

Selwyn, N. (2006). Selwyn’s Law of Employment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.