Date 10 October 2011

Publication My Telegraph

We hear a lot about “vexatious” claimants clogging up the tribunal system. Employers regularly complain that too many cases which have no chance of succeeding get to trial – causing unnecessary expense and paperwork at a time when they are supposed to be focused on growing their companies.

Last week, the Government announced it would do something about this, by increasing the qualifying period for which former workers can bring a claim for unfair dismissal, from one to two years. Apparently this will reduce the number of tribunal claims by 2,000 a year.

But I question whether this really combats the issue of vexatious claimants. There is nothing to suggest that these 2,000 claimants really are vexatious just because they have been dismissed between one and two years’ service.
Truly vexatious litigants do not care that they have to wait two years to qualify for unfair dismissal, as they will make allegations of discrimination to get around this rule.

When a litigant is actually vexatious, they won’t let the timeframe stop them. The unintended consequence of all this is that discrimination claims will inevitably increase.

The article was originally published in The Telegraph. To request a full copy of the article, email Victoria Thomson

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