TUC rallies against tribunal fees
Jan 20 2012
“Proposals to introduce fees to take claims to employment tribunals have been met with derision”
Introducing fees to take claims to employment tribunals could be a huge barrier to equality at work, says the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
Before Christmas, the government published its plans for charging users of employment tribunals where an individual would have to pay a minimum of £600 and as much as £1,750 to have a discrimination claim heard at a tribunal.
If the plans come to pass, the TUC believes it will be even harder in future to get proper enforcement and compliance with the law as employers will know that they face little realistic prospect of being held to account.
Speaking at the TUC's annual discrimination law conference at Congress House in London, the trade union centre's general secretary Brendan Barber said, 'The [proposed fees system] is chequebook justice, pure and simple and is a profoundly regressive step.
‘As so few discrimination claims succeed at tribunal anyway, many potential claimants, particularly those who lack the support of a union, would be put off from making a claim – giving a green light to unscrupulous employers to discriminate at will. That's something that ought to concern everyone who cares about justice, fairness and equality.’
Barber adds that the TUC will continue to fight discrimination, campaign for fairness, and strive for equality ‘at work and in society’.