Conciliation service Acas has launched a DVD designed to guide employers and individuals through the employment tribunal process.
The Essential Guide to Employment Tribunals offers viewers advice on whether they should be going to tribunal at all – and, if they decide to go ahead, comprehensive guidance on how to prepare and what to expect once they get there.
It also contains interviews with experts and a dramatised case study to show viewers what actually happens at a tribunal. All of the most commonly asked questions are answered.
The DVD has been produced by legal firm Capital Law and Channel Televison, in association with Acas.
Acas chief executive, John Taylor, said: “Our primary concern is to help avoid tribunal cases if at all possible. My advice would be: ‘Don’t even go there’ if there is another way to solve your individual workplace dispute fairly and amicably,” he said.
“The cost, stress and disruption to lives and business can be huge. People often don’t think about this – or underestimate the consequences – before they decide to go ahead.”
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Taylor said that Acas helps to settle three-quarters of the UK’s individual workplace disputes before they get to a tribunal hearing.
“Of course, there will always be occasions where people just can’t find common ground – and even the best-run organisations may become involved in a tribunal case,” he said. “If a case does go all the way, then everyone involved needs to be properly prepared.”
