People are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT to help draft grievances and prepare claims for employment tribunals, employment lawyers have said.
Ella Bond, senior solicitor in Harper James’ employment team, told Personnel Today: “There has been a noticeable increase in employees turning to AI platforms to prepare grievances and tribunal submissions. While this may seem to improve access to justice, in practice, it creates a number of difficulties for employers.”
Among these, said Bond, was the fact that AI-generated claims were often lengthy and included inaccuracies or irrelevant arguments, all of which required a detailed response from employers. “This drives up legal costs and consumes valuable management and HR time that could otherwise be focused on resolving workplace issues,” said Bond.
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Inaccurate or complex cases could add to the tribunal backlog, Bond said, and for employers, the consequences extended beyond financial cost.
She added: “Even claims that ultimately lack legal merit can cause uncertainty, take up valuable resource time and carry reputational risks once they reach a public forum.
“Looking ahead, there is concern that the greater use of AI may encourage more speculative claims, placing employers in the difficult position of having to weigh the commercial costs of defending a case against the merits of early settlement.”
Travers Smith employment partner Ailie Murray told City AM that ChatGPT was leading to problematic claims “as it does little to help resolve the employee’s issue, and in some cases actively undermines or prejudices it. It also creates additional costs for employers having to review and respond to lengthy submissions.”
Lawyers also warned that once sensitive details had been entered into public AI platforms, employers lost control of confidentiality, with accompanying GDPR risks.
The BBC has also reported that AI has given claimants unrealistically high compensation expectations, which have made it difficult for mediators to achieve a settlement.
New figures released in June showed an increase in employment cases. Statistics from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) showed that the open caseload at the Tribunal increased by 32% from January to March 2024/25 compared with the same quarter in the previous year.
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