Blogs

ET Roadmap in Covid aftermath

The Presidents of the Employment Tribunal’s have consulted and published a new roadmap for how Employment Tribunal proceedings will go ahead in 2021 and 2022.

Pandemic pathway

As a result of the global pandemic, whilst Employment Tribunal Hearings have traditionally always been heard by way of face to face Hearings, due to the national lockdown measures, and the stay at home order, and requirement for social distancing the majority of Hearings since March 2020 have taken place via CVP video link.

New tribunal on the block

The newly published roadmap sets out a number of developments in the Employment Tribunal arena, including for the first time, the launch of a “virtual region”, this month.  This region will be able to hear cases generated (issued) in any of the current 10 regions within England and Wales given that for remote hearings, the location is irrelevant.

New normal

Whilst the Presidents are of the view that “justice is best experienced in a face to face environment”, due to the extensive increase in caseloads even prior to the pandemic which saw huge backlogs and the Tribunals struggling to list matters within  reasonable periods of time, the view is that it is simply not possible to revert to holding Hearings exclusively on a face to face basis and that CVP video Hearings will remain in place for at least the next two years.

In addition, the roadmap has confirmed the following:

Hearings that will default to telephone / video

• Preliminary Hearings listed in private for Case Management purposes.
• Judicial mediations default to telephone or video.

Hearings that will default to video

• Preliminary Hearings listed in public to determine a preliminary issue (employment status/disability/time limits).

• Preliminary Hearings listed in public to consider applications for example strike out or deposit orders.

• Applications for interim relief

• Final Hearings of short track claims such as unpaid wages, notice, holiday pay, redundancy.

• Other applications including applications to reconsideration or costs/expenses will also default to video.

Hearings in person

• Final Hearings of standard track claims (unfair dismissal) will vary. The return to face to face Hearings will be dependent on local regions.

• Final Hearings of open track claims (discrimination and whistleblowing) will also vary. They will if possible default to in-person Hearings.

It has been clarified that parties will be able to express their views at earlier Preliminary Hearings (case management) if they have a particular preference.

Backlog

In the London and South East Regions where there are severe backlogs, parties should expect to see a greater reliance on video hearings including hybrid formats as cases are transferred to the virtual regions.

Alternative options

Please note that in every case it will be open to an Employment Judge to decide that the default position should not apply, and it is always possible for a party to write to the Employment Tribunal office to explain why they would like the Hearing to be held using a different format to that listed by the Employment Tribunal.

For further advice on employment tribunal proceedings, please contact a member of our employment team on 020 8 363 4444.

Please note that this blog has been written for information purposes and does not constitute legal advice, the content was accurate at the time of writing and may change. Please revert to the Employment Tribunal website for up to date information.