In this section
Making a claim
Your claim cannot be accepted unless it meets certain conditions. From 6 April 2009 some important amendments have been made to the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure which change these conditions. However, as explained on the Forms and Guidance page, the old Rules will continue to apply to many claims until 4 July 2009 and to some equal pay and redundancy claims until 4 October 2009.
Please read the Forms and Guidance page before completing a claim form to find out whether the old Rules or the new Rules apply to your claim.
If the old Rules apply to your claim you should use the old claim form. Unless you tell us the following details about yourself and your claim, your claim form will not be accepted, and the old claim form is designed to enable you to do this:
- your name and address;
- the name and address of the respondent or respondents (the person or organisation against whom you are making a claim);
- the details of your complaint; and
- whether or not you are or were an employee of the respondent.
If you are, or were, an employee of the respondent
You need to tell us whether your claim relates to your dismissal. If you are or were an employee of the respondent and your claim or part of it does not relate to you being dismissed, you must also tell us:
- whether you have raised your complaint in writing with the your employer; and
- whether you have waited 28 days before presenting your claim to a tribunal office.
If you have not raised your complaint in writing with your employer, you must give a valid reason why you did not. You may want to get advice. Further information can be obtained from the Directgov website
If the new Rules apply to your claim you should use the new claim form and you only need to tell us:
- your name and address;
- the name and address of the respondent or respondents (the person or organisation against whom you are making a claim); and
- the details of your complaint;
How soon must I make my claim to an Employment Tribunal?
Most claims to Employment Tribunals must be made within very strict time limits. In most cases the tribunal must receive your claim within three months. In dismissal cases the three month period begins from the date your employment ended: in discrimination cases or complaints relating to non-payment of wages or holiday pay the three month period begins when the matter you are complaining about happened. There are special rules for equal pay and redundancy payment claims.
For example
If it happened on 1 March, the tribunal must receive your claim on or before 31 May.
If it happened on 5 March, the tribunal must receive your claim on or before 4 June.
If your claim is about discrimination or failing to pay you wages or holiday pay or a redundancy payment, or about equal pay, or suffering a detriment in the workplace for a protected reason and the old Rules apply to your claim, in certain circumstances, for example, when you write to your employer within the original time limit raising a grievance, these limits will be extended by three months, meaning that the total time you have to claim is increased to six months.
If we receive your claim outside the time limit, the tribunal will only be able to consider it in fairly restricted circumstances which relate to your reasons for not bringing the claim in time. There is no general discretion to extend time.
If the old Rules apply to your claim and you send your claim form to us before the dismissal or grievance procedures are completed, the tribunal may reduce any compensation awarded to you if it believes that the failure to complete the procedures was your fault.
In general to claim unfair dismissal you must have worked continuously for the respondent for not less than one year. However, in certain cases relating to unfair dismissal it may not be necessary to have worked for the respondent for one year, for example if the reason for your dismissal was one of the following:
- Being involved with a union.
- Joining a union or choosing not to join one.
- Being involved in Health and safety activities either as an employer's health and safety "officer" or a worker's representative or for raising health and safety issues, or for refusing to work in circumstances of danger.
- Taking part in activities as a pension scheme trustee.
- Being, or proposing to become, an "employee representative".
- Being a shop worker or a betting worker who refuses to work on a Sunday.
- Using certain rights covered by the Working Time Regulations.
- Being dismissed for pregnancy/pregnancy related reason.
Acceptable claims
If your claim is accepted, the Tribunal office will send you a letter to confirm this together with a booklet which will tell you what the next steps are. At the same time we will send the respondent a copy of your claim form together with a form for their response.
If no response is received within 28 days, the Tribunal may consider issuing a default judgment. A default judgment allows a Tribunal chairman to give a decision about the claim without the claimant having to go to a hearing.
Having received and accepted the claim, we will give it a case number. You should quote your case number if you contact a tribunal office either by phone or in writing.
In most cases, we also send a copy of your claim to ACAS. This is the independent conciliation service. They will try to help you and the respondent reach an agreed settlement if that is what you both wish to do.
Unacceptable claims
Your claim will not be accepted if:
- It is not on an approved form;
- You have not given all the required information; or
- If it applies to your claim, you have not raised your complaint with the respondent and waited 28 days.
We will return your form to you with a letter telling you the reason why your claim has not been accepted and what action you should take.
