Defending Employment Tribunal Claims

Employment claims by employees can be ‎costly; not only in terms of legal fees but also with regards to management time, and the stress and anxiety for other employees who may be involved. It is fairly quick and easy for an aggrieved employee to commence a claim in an employment tribunal or court, but far harder to defend one for an employer.

Examples of the types of claims that can be issued at the employment tribunal include but not limited to:

• Unfair, wrongful and constructive dismissal.
• Sex, race, disability, age, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, religion or belief and sexual orientation discrimination.
• Whistleblowing.
• Victimisation.
• Breach of contract.
• Unlawful deduction of wages.

Our employment solicitors based in offices across Essex and London have substantial experience in defending employment claims in the employment tribunal and the civil courts; we also always consider whether alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation or roundtable meetings should be considered.

For the majority of claims, an employee or worker may not make an employment tribunal claim without going through the ACAS Early Conciliation process first. There are strict time limits for an employee or worker to commence the ACAS Early Conciliation process and to issue a claim at the employment tribunal, if matters cannot be resolved.

Our solicitors aim to take the pressure ‎away from our business clients and deal with defending claims in the most straightforward and cost-effective way. If circumstances dictate, we shall vigorously defend such actions on our client’s behalf; we pride ourselves on providing practical legal advice, as well as guidance throughout each step of the process.

We can draft your defence, advise on prospects and risks of the claim and likely damages, help you deal with disclosure, preparation of bundles, witness statements ‎and any applications which are required or provide strategic legal advice.

Our expert employment team are regularly instructed to defend claims. Recently we have:

• Successfully defended a claim for constructive unfair dismissal and sexual harassment.
• Successfully defended a 3-day sex discrimination claim arising from a redundancy selection.
• Successfully defended a 3-day unfair dismissal, victimisation, race discrimination and unlawful deductions claim arising from the dismissal of an employee for misconduct reasons.
• Successfully secured a costs awards in the tribunal for our employer client.
• Successfully argued that an employment contract was tainted by illegality, resulting in various claims being struck out.
• Successfully striking out a claim for being out of time and / or having no reasonable prospects of success.

Please click here to view our pricing information for defending unfair and wrongful dismissal Employment Tribunal Claims.

Defending Employment Tribunal Claims Lawyers

Stephen Eccles

Partner

Alex Pearce

Senior Associate