Employment
tribunal applications dropped significantly in the past year, according to the
Employment Tribunals Service’s annual report.
Applications
fell by 12 per cent from 112,000 in 2001-02 to just under 99,000 in the past
year.
The
largest number of tribunal claims came from unfair dismissal disputes (26 per
cent), followed by unlawful deduction from wages (23 per cent). Breach of contract
accounted for 17 per cent of applications and discrimination claims 12 per
cent.
Mike
Emmott, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s employee
relations expert, was surprised by the reduced number of applications.
However,
he does not predict a significant increase next year despite new flexible
working request rights for parents introduced in April’s Employment Act and
laws on sexual orientation, religion and belief coming into force in December
this year.
