Employment Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Yes. In most cases, this time limit is three months less one day from the date of the act or omission that is the subject of the claim occurred.

In discrimination claims, where the subject of the claim is asserted as a continuing act (i.e. happened on a number of occasions/over a period of time), then the time starts to run from the end of that period. 

Claimants (individuals who are bringing claims) must, in the vast majority of cases, contact ACAS to go through the early conciliation process before they can lodge a claim with the employment tribunal.

Going through ACAS early conciliation can extend the time limit for bringing a claim and allows a company to consider whether it wishes to try and settle the claim at an early stage.

The Employment Rights Bill proposes that the time limit for bringing a claim in the employment tribunal will increase to six months. The Government expects that the changes to the time limit will take place in October 2026.

Yes, the employment tribunal has discretion to extend the time limit for bringing a claim in the employment tribunal. However, the tribunal has to follow the tests set down in legislation in considering whether they should exercise their discretion to extend the time limit. The tests of extending time are different for different types of claims.

Currently, to bring a claim of ‘ordinary’ unfair dismissal an employee must have a minimum of two years’ continuous employment at the effective date of termination of their employment.

Under the Employment Rights Bill it had been proposed that this requirement would be removed so that employees would have a day one right to bring a claim of unfair dismissal. However, the proposal is now that the qualifying period be reduced from two years to six months. 

There are no minimum service requirements to bring certain, limited, types of automatic unfair dismissal, e.g. those related to health and safety, whistleblowing, trade union membership and activities, minimum wage and for reasons connected to pregnancy, childbirth and family leave (e.g. maternity leave) and a number of other reasons.

No minimum continuous period of employment is required to bring a discrimination claim. In fact, job applicants and former employees are protected.

Whether an individual can bring a claim depends on their employment status. That status determines their employment rights and therefore the claims that they can bring. 

Individuals who fulfil the definition of an employee under the Employment Rights Act 1996 have the most protection under employment law. 

Workers have rights to bring a smaller number of claims than employees.

Protection from unlawful discrimination (which is governed by the Equality Act 2010) is available to the widest group of people. This is because the definition of ‘employee’ in the Equality Act 2010 is widely defined — meaning that individuals who fulfil the Employment Rights Act 1996 definition of ‘employee’ and those who are workers are protected along with certain other individuals.

The vast majority are. However, some claims like breach of restrictive covenants (also known as post- termination restrictions) (which include non-compete clauses, non-solicitation clauses, non-dealing clauses and non-poaching clauses) are dealt with in the civil courts. 

We work closely with our colleagues in the litigation team to advise and protect both business and individuals on the enforceability of restrictive covenants. 

Where there are employment-related IP matters we would work closely with our colleagues in the intellectual property team.

The choice of court can also be a tactical ploy in respect of the costs regime at play and the caps in terms of the maximum value of a claim.

Each claim and the amount of compensation awarded is case and fact specific. 

As a basic rule, in claims for ‘ordinary’ unfair dismissal a successful claimant would be entitled to a basic award and a compensatory award. 

The basic award is worked out in accordance with the statutory formula for calculating a statutory redundancy payment (based on age, continuous length of service and a week’s pay). There is a cap on both the length of service and the amount of a week’s pay. 

It is possible for the tribunal to reduce the basic award in certain circumstances. These would include where the conduct of the employee before the dismissal would mean it was just and equitable to reduce the compensation and where the claimant unreasonably refused to accept an offer of reinstatement.

The compensatory award is made up of different types of loss including loss of earnings (both past and future), notice period, loss of statutory rights, loss of pension and loss of benefits. The maximum possible compensatory award is limited by a statutory cap in the vast majority of cases. 

Employees are under a duty to mitigate their losses, primarily by looking for another job.

The maximum levels of compensation that employment tribunals can award generally increase in April each year.

Compensation in discrimination claims is uncapped. Broadly speaking, this compensation can be broken down into financial loss (both past and future), compensation for personal injury as a result of the discrimination and injury to feelings. 

Injury to feelings awards are for the injury to feelings that the individual has suffered as a result of the discrimination. They are divided into three bands: lower, middle and upper (often known as the Vento bands after the case in which the three bands were first set out). There are guidelines to assist employment tribunals on how much to award the claimant based on how the discrimination has affected the individual. 

Aggravated damages and punitive or exemplary damages are awarded in only very limited situations. 

The maximum levels of compensation that employment tribunals can award generally increase in April each year.

Only in very limited circumstances will an employment tribunal order the losing party to pay the costs of the winning party. The starting point in employment tribunal claims (unlike claims in the civil courts) is that each party bears their own costs. No matter the result of the claim, each party pays their own costs.