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GAZETTE
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1981
The Employment
Appeals Tribunal
A Review
The Federated Union of Employers (F.U.E.) provides,
as part of its service to member companies, represen-
tation at the Employment Appeals Tribunal and Rights
Commissioners. This service has been developed over the
years, and our advice and assistance is now backed by a
comprehensive information service and a full-time legal
adviser. Over 90% of members appearing at the Tribunal
use the services of F.U.E. A characteristic of the
involvement of F.U.E. is that of all cases involving
F.U.E., 14% were settled without recourse to a full
hearing, compared with a 6% settlement rate for
solicitors.
In 1979, 40% of Unfair Dismissal claims succeeded.
33% of Minimum Notice claims succeeded, 30% of
Redundancy claims succeeded, and 32% of claims were
dismissed totally.
In the December 1980 issue of the
Bulletin
, we
examined the performance of the Employment Appeals
Tribunal in 1979. In this issue, we analyse some of the
results of our survey that may be of interest to member
companies. The first point is that of the attraction of the
Employment Appeals Tribunal to employees seeking
compensation.
The Tribunal has awarded some substantial sums to
claimants, and appears, therefore, more attractive in the
eyes of the employee who feels he has a very good case.
Awards in Unfair Dismissal cases in 1979 totalled
£146,138 with the average award being £1,228.
Monetary awards are by far the most commonly used
of the three remedies allowed by the Unfair Dismissals
Act. Of all Unfair Dismissals claims in 1979, 40% were
successful - of these 12% involved
"re
instatement"
(employee re-employed in same position as before
dismissal with no break in service, full pay for the period
of dismissal and no loss of rights, seniority, etc., as a
result of the break).
Only 12% of cases resulted in "re-engagement"
(employee to be restored to his former position with no
entitlements in relation to the break in service, the
employee "starts from scratch" on the day he is re
engaged).
The third category of award is compensation, up to a
maximum of two years "remuneration". Some large
awards running to five figures have been awarded by the
Tribunal. The maximum was awarded in 2.5% of cases in
1979.
The 1979 Annual Report of the Employment Appeals
Tribunal was issued recently and considering that the
figures referred to in the report were based on a survey of
claims actually filed in the calendar year 1979, the
percentages approximate closely to those of our own
survey. We reproduce two Tables from the Report
showing the number and outcome of cases, and a detailed
breakdown of the amounts awarded in successful Unfair
Dismissal claims where compensation was deemed to be
the appropriate remedy.
Summary of the amounts awarded in 117 Unfair Dismissal orders
formulated and perfected in 1979 in which the redress determined by
the Tribunal was the employee's entitlement to compensation.
Total Awarded
£178,214.56
Average Awarded
£1,523.20
£1
to
£100 12
£1,000
to
£2,000
22
£100
to
£200 12
£2,000
to
£3,000
6
£200
to
£300
8
£3,000
to
£4,000
2
£300
to
£400
8
£4,000
to
£5,000
2
£400
to
£500 10
£5,000
to
£6,000
2
£500
to
£600
7
£6,000
to
£7,000
3
£600
to
£700
7
£7,000
to
£8,000
1
£700
to
£800
2
£8,000
to
£9,000
2
£800
to
£900
5
£9,000
to
£10,000
2
£900
to
£1,000
2
£10,000
to
£11.000
1
£11,000
to
£12,000
1
No. of Appeals
Referred to the
Tribunal in 1979
Allowed
Dismissed
Grand Total
Decided
Withdrawn Prior
to Hearing
Withdrawn
During Hearing
Grand Total
Withdrawn
1
Redundancy
Payments Act
504 171
107 278
52
32
84
Minimum Notice
and Terms of
Employment Act
504 246
117 363
68
95
163
Unfair Dis-
missals Act
402 165
166 331
60
68
128
Grand Total
1,410 582 390
912*
180
195 375*
*Some of these appeals were referred to the Tribunal prior to 1979.
(Reprinted, by kind permission, from the Bulletin of the
Federated Union of Employers, January 1981.)
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