The justice secretary, David Lammy, has ruled out reintroducing charges for employment tribunals after a backlash from unions over the proposals.
The Guardian revealed last week that ministers were considering a plan to charge workers a fee to take their bosses to court as part of negotiations in this year’s spending review. Trade unions responded with fury, labelling the idea a “disaster”.
The employer has to bear all the costs of every attempt. Employees none of any. There are going to be more claims than might really be justified, aren’t there?
There is asymmetric power on the other side though. The employer will generally have more resources to bring to bear on the dispute. However a more or less nominal charge as for the Small Claims Court would not be unreasonable.
On the other hand…
Richard Burgon MP used to be an employment rights lawyer.
Just imagine your feelings as you travel home, after having had your first session with him.
I understood that in employment tribunal cases each side pay their own costs. The tribunal does not usually award costs to either side except in exceptional circumstances.
Where is the asymmetry?
“Making a claim against an employer had been free since the tribunal system was established in the 1960s, until David Cameron’s coalition government introduced charges in 2013. Fees were then scrapped in 2017, after the supreme court ruled they were unlawful, after a case brought by the Unison trade union.”
Shrug
I still can’t get used to the idea that David Lammy is a government minister. He’d be dangerous as a lollipop man and if I saw him doing that I’d take my kids out of the school within the hour
I know but remember when Bev from Brookside was the Deputy Prime Minister? The collective IQ of Two Tier’s cabinet wouldn’t be enough to buy you a 5p packet of Space Raiders
Deputy Prime Minister, no less…
Be a lot cheaper if we reintroduced trial by combat.
I hereby volunteer to be the guy going DO DO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO!
Pity I can only give you one uptick for that ! 🙂
We’d also need some old dame to adjudicate who can’t use ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ correctly.
For a simple case (e.g., basic unfair dismissal) legal fees are quoted as £15,000–£25,000 + VAT with both legal teams paying this amount. On top of this the judge and the court are paid for by the Government (i.e. us tax payers). I have no idea how much this costs but as the judge is an “independent” barrister its not going to be cheap.
The Unions don’t want charges that could dissuade claims. The legal profession most certainly won’t want anything that could hinder claims.