Important Tribunal News For All

There has been a major development that could affect many domestic staff, now and in the future

If you have lodged a complaint against a former employer since July 2003, you would have had to pay a compulsory fee firstly to make the complaint and then a higher fee if the case was heard at tribunal.

Since then, the Supreme Court has ruled those fees unlawful and anyone who has paid them can now apply to have them repaid.

Additionally, if you need to file a complaint at tribunal in the future, you will not have to pay any fees. Typical reasons for lodging the complaint include: non-payment of wages, unfair dismissal and discrimination.

During the fees regime, simpler cases, such as claims for unpaid wages, attracted an issue fee of ￡160 and hearing fee of ￡230.

For more complex cases, such as discrimination claims, the issue fee was ￡250 and hearing fee was ￡950.

Initially the scheme was trialled in an opening phase and has now been extended nationally.

It was in July 2017 that the Supreme Court ruled the employment tribunal fees regime was illegal. The government, in response, immediately stopped imposing fees and in October launched the initial payback scheme.

The Graham Agency, keeping you informed.

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