{"id":10500,"date":"2016-11-08T16:46:52","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T16:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10500"},"modified":"2016-11-08T17:14:40","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T17:14:40","slug":"priced-out-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10500","title":{"rendered":"Priced out of justice"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legacy of injustice was made startlingly clear last week when new TUC figures revealed that the number of employment tribunal claims has plummeted after fees were introduced three years ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Being priced out of justice, workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even those on the minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c must fork out up to \u00c2\u01411,200 to take their boss to court under the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fee regime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The year before tribunal fees were introduced, 16,000 workers on average filed claims each month \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this figure dropped to 7,000 workers a month, with unfair dismissal claims nose-diving an astonishing 73 per cent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Significant drops were also registered in the number of sex discrimination claims, which fell by 71 per cent, while race discrimination and disability discrimination cases fell substantially too, at 58 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, a justice select committee inquiry<\/a> slammed the government for continuously delaying its review of tribunal fees, which a year after the review was first announced, has yet to be published.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Troubling contrast\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is a troubling contrast between the speed with which the government has brought forward successive proposals for higher fees, and its tardiness in completing an assessment of the impact of the most controversial change it has made,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the committee argued.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe find it unacceptable that the government has not reported the results of its review one year after it began and six months after the government said it would be completed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cross-party committee of MPs strongly objected to the ministry of justice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claims that the steep drop in employment tribunal cases could merely be attributed to improving economic conditions, changes to employment law and an already-existing downward trend in the number of cases being brought.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese may indeed be facts but the timing and scale of the reduction following immediately from the introduction of fees can leave no doubt that the clear majority of the decline is attributable to fees,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the committee noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They concluded that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bif there were to be a binary choice between income from fees and preservation of access to justice, the latter must prevail.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The arguments presented to us by the government in this inquiry … have not swayed us from our conclusion, on the evidence, that the regime of employment tribunal fees has had a significant adverse impact on access to justice for meritorious claims,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the committee argued.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The TUC analysis notes that Acas figures for 2015\/16 show of the 90,000 employment disputes the conciliation service received notice of, 65 per cent of those were not settled by Acas nor did they progress to a tribunal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wrong signal <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady said the tribunal fees sent the wrong signal to unscrupulous bosses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese figures show a huge drop in workers seeking justice when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been unfairly treated,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow bosses know they can get away with it, discrimination at work can flourish unchecked and people can be sacked without good reason.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe evidence is there for all to see,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese fees \u00e2\u20ac\u201c of up to \u00c2\u01411200, even if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re on the minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are pricing out thousands each month from pursuing cases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTheresa May has repeatedly said she wants to govern for ordinary working people,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady went on to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHere is a perfect opportunity. She could reverse employment tribunal fees, and make sure workers can challenge bad employers in court.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite head of legal Howard Beckett agreed. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bEmployment tribunal fees have been a disastrous policy since their implementation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if there were any doubts, this latest TUC analysis lays them to rest once and for all,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fees have blocked access to justice for those who need the justice system most \u00e2\u20ac\u201c vulnerable workers who are at the mercy of rogue employers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hardly surprising that the government has dragged its feet and delayed publishing an impact assessment of employment tribunal fees \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they know the fees have had a devastating effect on workers who face unfair dismissal, sex and racial discrimination, among other workplace injustices and they know that if this were all brought to light there would be a public outcry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe call on the government to scrap all employment tribunal fees immediately \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Autumn Statement gives them an opportunity to do just that. But for now, the only avenue to justice is through trade union membership.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe at Unite are committed to covering all legal costs for our members, including employment tribunal fees, and we ensure that members who use Unite legal services to pursue a personal injury or employment claim keep 100 per cent of their compensation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven as the current government uses the rhetoric of working-class values, it is pummelling working people with greater and greater audaciousness. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not be fooled \u00e2\u20ac\u201c joining a trade union now is more important than ever before.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legacy of injustice was made startlingly clear last week when new TUC figures revealed that the number of employment tribunal claims has plummeted after fees were introduced three years ago.   Being priced out of justice, workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even those on the minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c must fork out up to \u00c2\u01411,200 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[233],"wps_subtitle":"ET claims nose dive since fees","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10502,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10500\/revisions\/10502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}