UK
employees will be better able to pursue claims over allegedly unlawful pay
deductions following a tribunal ruling this week.
Under
the new rules, employment tribunals must investigate and decide whether
claimants have been overpaid or taken part in industrial action.
Previous
tribunal decisions had meant that employment tribunals could not hear
employees’ claims where employers simply alleged that the claimants had been
overpaid or had taken part in industrial action.
This
meant that employees’ claims had to be brought in the County Court, an
expensive and complex procedure.
Manufacturing
union Amicus, which brought the case, said that as well as establishing an
important principle, the decision would also encourage more employees to
challenge unlawful deductions, using the tribunal’s more simple and effective
process.
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Georgina
Hirsch, director of legal services at Amicus, said: "We are delighted that
the principle has been changed – that will enable more workers to challenge
incorrect deductions made by their employers.”
