3. JURISDICTION

A tribunal only has power to hear certain types of claim from certain categories of worker and within a specified time limit. This is referred to as its jurisdiction and is set by Parliament by statute.

Most claims that can be heard by an employment tribunal are statutory claims, meaning that they involve rights given by employment legislation rather than the employment contract. These include claims for unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction from wages, redundancy pay, discrimination, equal pay, claims relating to parental rights, claims arising from the Working Time Regulations, and most trade union rights.

The relevant act or regulations will specify where those rights can be enforced. For example, a tribunal has jurisdiction to hear unfair dismissal claims because section 111 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 says so.

An exception is a claim for breach of contract. This is a common law claim, which means it has become a legal right historically, through the development of case law decided by the courts. But there must still be legislation that gives tribunals the power to decide claims for breach of contract and this is found in section 3 of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996.

However, this power is qualified by further legislation, the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994, and the corresponding order for Scotland — these say that only a breach of contract claim that “arises or is outstanding on the termination of the employee’s employment” can be decided by a tribunal. This means that a worker who wants to pursue a breach of contract claim while still employed will usually have to do this in the County Court or High Court.

Some statutory rights apply only to employees, while others apply more widely to workers. Some, such as the right of job applicants to be protected from discrimination, are wider still. For each right, the legislation specifies who can bring a claim and a tribunal will not have jurisdiction to hear a claim brought by an individual who does not meet that definition. For more information about the definitions of “worker” and “employee”, see the LRD booklet Law at work 2012 www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=BK&iss=1621

The jurisdiction of many statutory claims is also limited to individuals who work within Great Britain (or Northern Ireland, for claims brought in Northern Ireland).

Claims must be brought within strict time limits and a tribunal cannot usually hear a claim that has unjustifiably not been issued in time.

Full details of employment tribunals’ areas of jurisdiction for claims brought by individuals are available at: www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/employment/claims/jurisdiction and at the end of this booklet.

If a tribunal does not have jurisdiction over a claim for any of the above reasons, the claim will not be allowed to proceed in the employment tribunal and the claimant will have to consider whether another route, such as through the County Court, would be appropriate.

The 2004 tribunal rules put further limits on the jurisdiction of tribunals. A claim will now also be refused if either it does not contain all the required information, or the claimant has not used the correct form ET1. (The government is consulting on new versions of the ET1 and ET3 forms: www.bis.gov.uk/Consultations/employment-tribunal-rules-review-justice-underhill).