The number of employment claims has increased by more than half during the recession, official figures show.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures for accepted employment tribunal and employment appeal tribunal claims for 2009-10, published last week, show a rise of 56%. The MoJ attributes the rise to a 90% increase in multiple claims and the “changing economic climate”.
Unfair dismissal, breach of contract, and redundancy claims are up 17% on last year, and 62% on the year before. Just under one quarter of all claims related to the Working Time Directive—mainly multiple airline industry cases—while just under one fifth were unauthorised deductions claims.
There were slight increases in the number of sex, race and disability discrimination claims, while the number of age discrimination claims accepted by the tribunal rose to 5,200 from 3,800 last year.
Of accepted claims, one third are withdrawn, one third are settled, 13% are successful at tribunal, six per cent are unsuccessful at tribunal, nine per cent are struck out outside of the hearing and two per cent are dismissed at a preliminary hearing.
