Acting as independent judicial bodies, Employment Tribunals help employers and employees to settle their disputes over employment rights. Employment issues such as unfair dismissal, disability, race and sex discrimination, redundancy, wage-related concerns, terms of employment and worker's rights can be brought to the employment tribunals' attention.

Employment tribunal hearings are informal in order to encourage concerned parties to take legal action themselves. It is normally conducted at the tribunal office. There are instances, however that a different place is needed. Unlike in a county court, parties do not have to wear any special dress or need to follow any civil process policies. On the other hand, all hearings have an audience. Press people may even be present especially if your case is of public interest. Sexual conduct accusations however are exceptions. The tribunal normally does not allow press people to hear such cases and label them as 'Restricted Reporting Order'.

The people who will hear the case usually consist of three persons. Appointed by the Lord Chancellor, is the chairman who is a lawyer by profession. The other two members appointed by the Department of Trade and Industry are lay members and have been exposed to negotiate work-related problems. All three do not work for the government.

The tribunal is expected to handle every case reasonably and honestly. The tribunal must treat both parties equally. It is also their role to handle the cases in a timely manner and to take into account the nature and importance of all the issues at hand.

Results of the hearings are not announced but instead the tribunal issues a written decision to the parties a few days after the hearing. The rationale for the decision is included as well. Appeals can be made to the Employment Appeal Tribunal in case you disagree with the decision. Such appeal must comply with the indicated time frame, which is 14 days after the decision was made. In cases such as this, it will do you good to ask for legal advice to know if your case is eligible for a review.

In the event that the other party lost, the other party is not obliged to pay the costs. But should the tribunal deem that the party or its representative has acted irrationally, offensively or the claim is of no value, the tribunal may arrange for the party to pay the other side's expenses.

The Employment Tribunals reserves the right to refuse a claim if the prescribed form was not used and all given information must be true and valid to be acknowledged.

Several kinds of hearings are permitted by the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure: Case Management Discussion, Pre-Hearing Review, Full Hearing to decide accountability, and Review Hearing to reassess a judgment.

For assessments or reviews because of minor slips such as a typographical error, a Certificate of Correction will be issued to affirm the changes. Indeed Employment Tribunals are a big help to both employers and employees to resolve disagreements without having to spend.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, also known as Acas, aspires to make better the relationships between the company and its workers. In order to achieve this, Acas provides the latest information, autonomous counsel and good quality training, and acts as a mediator to work out problems between employers and employees, thus increasing work performance.

Counsel is given free through their website or by calling their helpline. Specialized services like training, workplace schemes, appeasement and arbitration are some of the things extended to an employer.

Acas envisions to:

Give a reasonable, unbiased as well as expert service
Meet the customer's needs
Entrust themselves to encourage, egalitarianism and diversity.

So, how does Acas help the employers and employees?

Acas helps resolve disagreements between workers, group of workers, their representative and their employers. Claims of employees wherein their legal right was denied by their employer is also part of their job.

Acas Adjudication Plan, an option to employment court hearings, is informal, private and faster with the final decision released immediately after. Unjust dismissal or claims which fall under the flexible working regulations can be settled on this adjudication plan. However, appeal can only be requested in limited circumstances. The panel of arbitrators is selected because of their being neutral, knowledge, skills and job relations understanding. Acas does not employ them but appoint them on a case-to-case basis.

As mediator

Acas relieves the employer and employee of going through legal process. As a mediator, they present a third party to have a resolution for disagreements. They suggest that the situation is better brought to their attention in its first phase rather than when the clash has occurred. Mediation has been beneficial in solving disagreements among employees and their supervisors or managers as well as between employees. Through mediation, an employee's absences from work that resulted in misunderstandings can bring the worker back to his work.

Also through mediation and conflict management trainings, Acas assists the employers and employees to handle the disagreements on their own.

As conciliator

As a substitute to tribunal hearing, Acas helps both the employers and employees to arrive at a resolution as a substitute to a court hearing. Instead of inflicting resolutions, Acas helps by way of settling the differences on their own conditions. Conciliation is almost the same as mediation but is meant to cases involving a complaint filed by an employee against his employer.

Collective Conciliation and Mediation

For this aspect, Acas also helps in solving disagreements between groups of employees (the employees' union) and their employers. Once Acas heard of disagreements, they communicate to both parties to check if they need help. They do not force themselves to both parties since this is voluntary. They act if both parties agreed that this is the way to solve the disagreements.

Collective mediation is offered when conciliation did not succeed and the involved parties are not keen to have arbitration but certainly would like to resolve the issues without having to go to court.

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