What is an employment tribunal?
Bodies known as Employment Tribunals deal with most work related legal action. Until 1998 these were know as Industrial Tribunals. Employment tribunals operate in England, Wales and Scotland. In Northern Ireland the system is similar but the tribunals are called Fair Employment Tribunals and can also hear claims relating to particular types of religious discrimination, which are illegal in Northern Ireland. These tribunals are specialist employment ‘courts’. A tribunal will be made up of 3 people. The employment judge will be legally qualified, and there will be 2 lay members, one of whom has been chosen as an employee representative and the other as an employer representative. As a panel, all members must exercise impartiality but the lay members will be expected to bring their employment experience to bear when judging the facts of the case. However in some cases the employment judge will sit alone, particularly when there are any preliminary legal arguments. The tribunals are servic
