In its response to the government's latest consultation on resolving workplace disputes, Thompsons Solicitors has challenged the document's central claim of a "dramatic" increase in the number of recent tribunal cases.
The proposals in the document, which appear to be based on anecdote rather than fact, include increasing the qualification period for unfair dismissal from one to two years.
"Resolving workplace disputes: A consultation" claims changes are necessary because, over the last few years, tribunal cases have increased by "56 per cent". Thompsons says this figure ignores what the available empirical data shows as the reason for the increase, if indeed there really has been an increase in claims at all.
The Employment Tribunal Service (ETS) show that the 85,000 case increase between 2008 and 2010 was accounted for by a rise in "single" claims of 8,900 and "multiples" of 76,100.
The substantial increase in "multiples" was mainly due to the rise in Working Time Directive claims - from 24,000 to 95,200. As the ETS points out, this was due, in the main, to the mass working time claims lodged by airline industry workers which have to be re-lodged every three months. Thompsons suggests that the government does not appear to have understood that.
And in its response to the consultation, Acas (the government's conciliation service) points out that the rise of 14 per cent in single claimant cases between 2008/9 and 2009/10 can be largely attributed to the economic climate. In 2009/10 there were fewer single claimant cases than in 2000/01.
Thompsons is concerned that not only has the government ignored the most relevant and recent data, but also a number of important and well-researched reports based on lengthy and detailed consultation.
Instead it seems to have chosen to rely on anecdotal evidence from business representatives suggesting that cases are too costly, take too long to be heard, that there are too many weak claims and/or that tribunal awards are inconsistent. None of the reports contained any data to back up these claims.
There is a concern that the government does not understand the consequences of some of its proposals. For instance increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from one to two years would, says Thompsons, simply increase the number of claims pursued under one or more jurisdictions which provide for "day one" rights.
The firm concludes that because the impetus for change in this consultation stems from an obsession with reducing the number of tribunal claims rather than making the system fairer overall, it will not result in a more effective system for resolving workplace disputes, the government's stated aim.
You can download Thompsons' response here:
http://www.thompsons.law.co.uk/ltext/dload/thompsons-response-resolving-workplace-disputes.pdf