INTIMIDATORY USE OF COSTS THREATS BY EMPLOYERS' LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES IN EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL CASES

Early day motion 899, tabled 24 March 2004 by Martin Caton (Labour). Signed by 41 members.

That this House notes the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) report on employment tribunals which shows that an increasing number of employers are trying to deter workers from pursuing employment tribunal claims by threatening them with a counter-claim for high costs and that the use of these intimidatory tactics has exploded since the Government increased the maximum amount of a costs award from ú500 to ú10,000 in July 2001; and supports CAB's call for the DTI and the Employment Tribunal Service to initiate a multi-agency debate on the intimidatory impact on applicants with valid claims of unjustified costs threats by employers' legal representatives and the potential remedies to this problem, to undertake an urgent review of the July 2001 changes to the employment tribunal costs regime and to issue all employment tribunal applicants with clear guidance on the costs regime, the circumstances and likelihood of such costs being awarded and what to do in the event of the other party making an unjustified costs threat.

Signatures by party: Labour 29, Conservative 4, Liberal Democrat 4, Labour/Co-operative 3, Plaid Cymru 1.