The
government has announced today that they will look into workplace conciliation
to reduce the number of employment tribunals.
The DTI
will examine why there has been a rise in tribunal applications and how to resolve
workplace disputes.
It is
estimated that the costs to employers of defending a tribunal claim and
replacing an employee can exceed £5,000.
“The rapid
increase in employment tribunal cases is bad news both for business and for
employers. It is far better for all concerned if disputes can be prevented or
resolved satisfactorily in the workplace, avoiding stress and cost of
litigation,” said Alan Johnson, Employment Relations Minister.
“The
government will review the steps we can take to promote conciliation, not
litigation. Litigation is costly for business, while the price that an employee
pays is stress and uncertainty and possible damage to their employment
prospects, when many disputes could perhaps have been resolved satisfactory in
the workplace at an early stage.”
In 1990/91
there were 43,000 employment tribunal applications compared with over 130,000
ten years later.
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