Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service; which offers a conciliation service for employment disputes.

If you issue proceedings, you will receive an acknowledgement of claim confirming that your claim has been accepted by the tribunal.

Postponing a fixed hearing date.

Unfavourable treatment on the grounds of someone’s age; or a provision or practice which disadvantages a particular person because of their age and which would tend to disadvantage others in that particular age group.

Are often awarded by the tribunal in discrimination cases, where it can be shown that the discriminatory behaviour has been particularly offensive.

Calculated by taking an employee’s age, years of service and average weekly pay to arrive at a figure. The weekly pay figure is limited to a maximum of £464 per week and the number of year’s service is capped at a maximum of 20 years.

ccurs when either an employer or employee breaks one of the terms of an employment contract. For example, if an employer does not pay an employee’s wages, or if an employee does not work the agreed hours. Not all the terms of a contract are written down. The breach may relate to a verbally agreed term, a written term, or an ‘implied’ term of a contract.

‘Bumping’ occurs where an employee whose job is redundant ‘bumps’ another employee out of their job so that the one who is ‘bumped’ is the one who is actually made redundant. This tends to happen when a more senior employee is prepared to take a more junior role to avoid redundancy.

See Preliminary Hearings.

When a Claim form has been received by the employment tribunal office.

The person who brings a tribunal case.

The maximum an employee can be awarded is set by legislation annually. This award is intended to compensate the employee for financial loss relating to their dismissal, including expenses and loss of benefits.

When calculating a Compensatory Award the employment tribunal considers the following:

loss of wages;
future loss of wages;
loss of perks;
how the employee was dismissed;
loss of employment protection; and
loss of pension rights.

The ACAS officer who mediates between both parties in an attempt to negotiate settlement before the final hearing.

Constructive Dismissal is where an employer has acted in such a way towards the employee that allows them to leave their job and treat themselves as dismissed. Whilst the employer has not actually fired the employee, they may have brought the employment to an end by their behaviour.

If an employer fails to consult employees (and their representatives if applicable) in a redundancy situation, the redundancy dismissals may be deemed unfair.

A tribunal may reduce a claimant’s compensation if their pre-dismissal conduct was relevant in the dismissal. The tribunal cannot take into account post dismissal conduct in determining contributory fault.

The agreement used by ACAS and signed by all parties to record a settlement once it has been agreed.

the process of questioning your opponent’s witnesses. The purpose of cross-examination is firstly to establish and advance your own case and secondly to attack the other side’s.

If an employer reduces or fails to pay wages without agreement in writing this amounts to an unlawful deduction from wages even if the employee owes money to the employer.

The law does not of course remove an employer's right to recover money properly due to him from an employee (e.g. typically to recover an overpayment of expenses or wages). It does however, save in a few special cases, mean that the employer is not allowed to recover the money by taking the law into his own hands and deducting it from future wages without the consent of the employee.

Can be made if a defence is not submitted by the respondent within the prescribed time period. If a default judgement is issued, the court can hear the case and make a ruling without hearing your side of the story.

A reduction in rank, often accompanied with a lower pay status. Most people view a demotion as a punishment, as it implies that the individual was incapable of performing at a higher rank.

Case management orders issued by the employment tribunal, detailing set dates on which both parties must complete certain key tasks.

It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee on the grounds that they have a disability by either treating them less favourably than they otherwise would (e.g. by demoting or dismissing them) or by failing to make reasonable adjustments.

If an employer is concerned or unhappy about an employee’s work, they may look to take disciplinary action against them. Examples of why an employer may be concerned or unhappy include the standard of work or behaviour at work. They may also be concerned about the level of absence from work.