TUC: Employment tribunal reforms will deny justice to poor

The government’s employment tribunal reforms target the UK’s poorest workers, according to industry experts.

Trade Unions Congress (TUC) officials have stated that the plans by the government to charge workers a fee to take claims to employment tribunals infringe on the rights of financially disadvantaged workers.

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, stated: “Government proposals to introduce a fee to lodge an initial claim … will effectively prevent the poorest and most vulnerable workers from ever being able to get justice.”

It is “unacceptable”, according to Mr Barber, that workers who have had their benefits and rights abused, and are already underpaid, should have to pay £250 or more to claim their entitlements, when it is their employers who have broken the law.

The reform will also target those who work for SMEs and may be without a union, which normally would cover upfront costs and support them in their case.

Criticisms by the TUC of the government’s reforms to employment law are the latest in a series of complaints, which claim that new proposals go too far and allow employers liberty to damage worker rights.

Published by Phil Hammond