The introduction of Employment Tribunal fees for claimants means clubs may unwittingly adopt a less cautious approach to weak claims to the Employment Tribunal. They should not, however, avoid the need for sound employment practices.

New fees introduced at the end of July mean staff seeking to make a claim against a club through the Employment Tribunal service will face substantial two-stage fees. They will need to pay initially when submitting a claim and once more if they wish their case to proceed to a hearing. The costs are:

• Type A, which covers most basic claims, for example, claims for non-payment of wages or a redundancy payment. The issue fee is E160 plus a hearing fee of E230.

• Type B, which covers more complicated claims such as unfair dismissal and unlawful discrimination. The issue fee for this sort of claim is E250 and E950 to go on to a hearing.

EMPLOYER FEES

Tribunal fees are most usually paid by employees; clubs submitting a form ET3 in response to a claim do so without any cost. However, specific fees have been introduced for employers it will cost E350 to submit an appeal against a Tribunal decision or E600 for judicial mediation in an attempt to settle a case prior to progressing to a hearing.

The annual number of claims being lodged with the Employment Tribunal service is around 186,000 or more than 3,500 each week. The hope is that with the introduction of fees for claimants, the Government and employers will see a substantial reduction of this figure. Without doubt, some employees will be discouraged in making a claim by having to pay a fee.

The significance of this may not, however, be as great as first thought. The fact is that a sizeable percentage of employees will avoid having to pay the fees themselves. The fees will be waived for those employees who are truly unable to be able to afford them - this will apply to claimants who either receive specific benefits or are on a low income.

TRADE UNIONS

Public statements by trade unions declaring that they will be paying the fees on behalf of their members have added to the list and are another factor regarding Tribunal fees. Many claimants also have the benefit of legal expenses insurance contained within their home contents policy.

It would be naive for clubs to believe that the threat of employees submitting a claim against them has significantly diminished. Clubs must not take a less cautious approach in their behaviour towards employees. It is absolutely crucial that clubs should continue to follow professional employment practices which comply with their statutory and contractual obligations and the current Acas Codes of Practice.

In reality the only practical way is to avoid the need for staff to make a claim to a Tribunal in the first place. In the past seven years only one of my retained clients has had a claim made against them at the Tribunal. Unfortunately, this was one that was out of my control from the outset.