Tribunals ‘need more teeth’

Company directors have called on the Government to give tribunals more power to throw out weak cases.

The Institute of Directors (IoD) said the coalition’s proposals to reform the employment system were “flawed” and did not go far enough.

It called for the introduction of universal employee deposits to deter people from bringing “spurious” cases.

In its submission to a Government consultation, the IoD said the tribunal system had failed, with employers often agreeing to settle in advance rather than face the time and expense of fighting a claim.

More than a third of IoD members said they have had a tribunal claim against them, but of those, only 9% were won by the claimant.

Miles Templeman, director general of the IoD, said: “Being timid will get us nowhere. Employment tribunals need radical reform. Unfortunately, the Government’s proposals, although well intentioned, will do little to tackle the problem of weak claims.

“What we need are stronger ‘strike out’ powers for tribunals, universal employee deposits and compulsory pre-claim conciliation. These changes would reduce the number of vexatious claims and the associated costs to business in terms of management time and lawyers’ fees.”

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