Tribunal fees a 'huge victory' for Britain's worst bosses

[Budfrog]

http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace-issues/ ... rst-bosses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Employment tribunal fees have been a huge victory for Britain’s worst bosses, according to a new TUC report published today (Tuesday) to mark the one year anniversary of the new charges.

The report – What Price Justice?– shows how since the introduction of fees in July 2013 there has been a 79 per cent fall in overall claims taken to employment tribunals, with women and low-paid workers the worst affected.

What Price Justice? analyses the latest Ministry of Justice statistics and reveals the following key findings:

• Women are among the biggest losers – there has been an 80 per cent fall in the number of women pursuing sex discrimination claims. Just 1,222 women took out claims between January and March 2014, compared to 6,017 over the same period in 2013.

The number of women pursuing pregnancy discrimination claims is also down by over a quarter (26 per cent), with just 3 per cent of women seeking financial compensation after losing their jobs.

• Race and disability claims have plummeted – during the first three months of 2014 the number of race discrimination and sexual orientation claims both fell by 60 per cent compared to the same period in 2013.

Disability claims have experienced a 46 per cent year-on-year reduction.

• Workers are being cheated out of wages – there has been a 70 per cent drop in workers pursuing claims for non-payment of the national minimum wage.
Claims for unpaid wages and holiday pay have fallen overall by 85 per cent. The report says that many people are being put off making a claim, because the cost of going to a tribunal is often more expensive than the sum of their outstanding wages.

• Low-paid workers are being priced out – only 24 per cent of workers who applied for financial assistance to take claims received any form of fee remittance.

Even workers employed on the minimum wage face fees of up to £1,200 if a member of their household has savings of £3,000.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Employment tribunal fees have been a huge victory for Britain’s worst bosses.

“By charging up-front fees for harassment and abuse claims the government has made it easier for bad employers to get away with the most appalling behaviour.

“Tribunal fees are part of a wider campaign to get rid of workers’ basic rights. The consequence has been to price low-paid and vulnerable people out of justice.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:
- A copy of What Price Justice? can be found at: http://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/fil ... rice_justi.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
- All TUC press releases can be found at http://www.tuc.org.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews
- Congress 2014 will be held in the BT Convention Centre, Liverpool, from Sunday 7 September to Wednesday 10 September. Free media passes can be obtained by visiting http://www.tuc.org.uk/media-credentials" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and completing an online form. Applications must be in by noon on Wednesday 27 August. Any received later than that will be processed in Liverpool and will cost £75.
Contacts:
Media enquiries:
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Tim Nichols T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07876 452902 E: tnichols@tuc.org.uk
Press Release
Issued: 28 July, 2014

[baldrick]

Well that's why the ConDems made it so expensive to take a case to the Industrial Tribunals.

[houseoflords]

Good olde Tory Morals..

[Senior Service]

Its not just the fees that get you they have also imposed a time limit of 3 months to take out a case; one guy in our office suffered terrible bullying and harassment and was signed of sick with acute anxiety and after 4 months it became apparent that there was no way he could ever return to work and looked into taking RM to a tribunal and was told he was too late! They are now IHR ing him and the managers are just carrying on as usual and will soon wash their hands of him.

[cliffeyhez]

Just another Tory stitch up

[Red Robbo]

That's why we need to return a Labour Government in the next election to reverse all employment laws .

[Jamesethefirst]

That's why we need to return a Labour Government in the next election to reverse all employment laws .

Dream on .

[redneck]

That's why we need to return a Labour Government in the next election to reverse all employment laws .

Dream on .

Labour are also in bed with business, when the Tories are in they attack the employment laws consistently, when Labour are in they fail time and time again to fully reverse them, so in time we have had an ever tightening stranglehold on workers rights in the workplace.

[janitor]

Labour are now just red Tories, the only interest they have in the working class is the money they get from the unions, this is shown by millibands latest union reforms on unions voting rights within the Labour Party.

[Judgee]

Looking through the window at Labour and Tories it is hard to determine just which one is which!

[lollollol]

The Unite Union were given the go ahead to challenge the decision to bring in fees for ETs... not heard how this is going though... originally they had to wait until they could prove that the introduction of fees had had an impact on the amount of cases being brought... we all know the answer to that...