Employment tribunal system is broken, says CIPD survey

Over two thirds of employers say they have no effective protection against employees making wholly unjustifiable claims to employment tribunals. This is a key finding from a survey of employers’ experiences of managing workplace conflict, published in the run up to the CIPD conference on conflict management.

The Conflict Management survey report shows that 61% of respondents have experience of an employee claiming unfair dismissal and ‘tagging on’ a discrimination claim in the hope of getting more compensation. Over half say they have endured a complaint against their organisation on malicious grounds.

More than half (52%) think the law on unfair dismissal should be amended to make it easier for employers to dismiss. A similar proportion (54%) also support more effective case management to identify ‘vexatious’ claims, with exactly half supporting the move to require tribunals to award costs against losing claimants.

The survey also indicates a vote of no confidence for the current dispute resolution system. Almost three quarters of employers use compromise agreements to avoid the risk of tribunal claims, with more than half saying that their use of compromise agreements has increased in the last two years. Also, half of respondents say their organisation has increased its use of mediation in the last two years.