Losing respondent should normally refund tribunal fees
[ch 1: page 9]Facts
In this case, an EAT had to decide whether or not to order the employer to refund some or all of the claimant’s tribunal fees after the appeal succeeded.
Ruling
The EAT ruled that normally an unsuccessful respondent should refund the claimant’s fees — in this case the £1,600 issue and hearing fees. The claimant, Dr Portnykh, had applied for remission of the fee, but had not yet heard whether the application for remission was successful, so the EAT made its costs order conditional on him not being granted full remission of the fees.
Commentary
This case follows on from the concession extracted from the government by UNISON in its judicial review challenge to tribunal fees (UNISON v The Lord Chancellor and Anor [2014] EWHC 218 (Admin)). This was that a successful claimant should normally expect to recover their fees from the respondent in an employment tribunal claim and that a change to the tribunal rules should be made to reflect this.
Portnykh v Nomura International PLC [2013] UKEAT 0448/13/0511