Thursday, September 09, 2010
The number of employment tribunal cases rocketed by more than 50% last year as workers reacted to redundancies, pay cuts and short-time working. There were 236,100 claims brought to tribunal in the year to March 2010 - up 56% from in the previous year and more than 390,000 individual cases. A statement from the Tribunal Service said of the 2009/10 figures. "Taking into account multiple claims, which rose by nearly 90% on 2008-09 figures, the total number of claims reached 392,800". Kevin Sadler, Chief Executive of the Tribunals Service said, "There is no doubt that economic conditions have contributed to an increase in the number of cases received," he said. An estimated £1 billion was paid out to workers who claimed they had been wrongly dismissed or had suffered some form of discrimination. The biggest payout was £729,347 in a disability discrimination case. Racial discrimination claims reached 5,700, a rise of 40% in only two years. Many employees' claims were successful because employers' defences fell down on the grounds of procedure, where company rules and procedures were inadequate, out of date, or non-existent.