Glasgow Employment Law Blog

The Scottish Government has launched a bid to abolish employment tribunal fees after powers were transferred to Holyrood from Westminster.

The proposals, which were laid out in the government’s programme for 2015-16 will abolish employment tribunal fees once it is "clear on how the transfer of powers and responsibilities" The move will only occur after consultation “in the shape of services that can best support people’s access to employment justice as part of the transfer of the powers of Employment Tribunals to Scotland.”

The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) chose to reserve judgment in three important cases last week relating to holiday pay.

In a  new report, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), has stated that employment tribunal fees have been ‘a huge victory for Britain’s worst bosses’. The report published on 29 July, marks the first anniversary of the introduction of charges for employment tribunals.

New laws, which came into effect earlier this month, now require anyone thinking of bringing an Employment Tribunal claim to first notify Acas through its Early Conciliation service.

Early Conciliation, introduced through new Regulations, will have to be followed by any body involved in a workplace dispute which may lead to an employment tribunal, such as:

Low-paid prudent savers could have to raid their savings to take their employer to an employment tribunal, according to the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) leader John Hannett.