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Union challenges JR tribunal fees decision
The trade union UNISON has been granted leave to appeal the High Court’s decision to refuse its judicial review application against the introduction of fees in employment tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal cases.
UNISON challenged the fee scheme, which was brought in from 29 July 2013, on the grounds that it would deny access to justice to employees and would have a discriminatory impact on women. In the judgment, the High Court accepted that the introduction of the fees, which means many applicants have to find over £1,000 for unfair dismissal and other common claims, might have the impact that UNISON feared, but said that it was too soon after their launch to decide if this was the case (R (UNISON) v Lord Chancellor and Equality and Human Rights Commission (intervener) [2014] EWHC 218 (Admin), 7 February 2014).
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice in March show that claims between October and December 2013 were down nearly 80 per cent compared with the same period in 2012 (see also May 2014 Legal Action 5). UNISON will ask the Court of Appeal to consider these figures.
‘UNISON has always argued that charging people to bring employment tribunal claims is unfair. We are very pleased that the Court of Appeal believes that our case merits further consideration,’ said Dave Prentis, UNISON’s general secretary.