Employment Tribunal Claims – Online Submission

By Gary Smith

Partner

The Employment Tribunal is currently experiencing technical difficulties with it’s online submission service for new Claims.  The Tribunal Rules only allow for Claims to be submitted via the online portal, by post or by hand.  Email is not accepted.

With the Employment Tribunal’s deadlines for submitting a Claim being extremely strict the President of the Employment Tribunal’s has commented;

“Recognising the difficulties that the technical fault may cause to those approaching the expiry of a limitation period for presentation of a claim, the following recommendation is made: a screenshot should be taken of the error message generated by the online submission service (showing its time) and a printed copy should accompany the posted or hand-delivered ET1, alongside any other evidence that may demonstrate when a party attempted unsuccessfully to present a claim. This is only necessary where a party considers there is a risk of missing the deadline for presenting a claim. Without intending in any way to impinge upon judicial independence, the tribunal’s judiciary and the parties and their representatives are reminded of the importance of giving effect to the overriding objective of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure, which is to enable cases to be dealt with fairly and justly.”

It is unclear how long these technical difficulties will last.

If you are considering issuing a Claim and require assistance please call our specialist team of Employment Lawyers on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be very happy to assist.