Equality and Human Rights Commission

Unlike when you go to a county court, you do not have to pay a fee to make a complaint to the tribunal. The tribunal does, however, have the option of making the following orders: 

Costs orders

In relation to the costs of the proceedings, a costs order may be made requiring a claimant or respondent (employer) to make a payment in respect of costs incurred by the other party, but only where that party is legally represented.

Normally a costs order will not be made if your complaint is reasonably arguable and you have not acted unreasonably in pursuing the complaint.

Preparation time orders

The Employment Tribunals Regulations introduced a new power for the tribunal to make a costs order against a party that is not legally represented. If a party is not legally represented at the hearing, a costs order cannot be made against them but a preparation time order may be made. This does not include any time spent at any hearing but does include any preparation work which is done which is directly related to the proceedings.

Wasted costs order

An order may be made against the representative of a party as opposed to a party themselves. Wasted costs are any costs incurred by a party which are the result of any improper, unreasonable or negligent act or omission on the part of any representative.

Generally speaking, you must make the complaint within three months less one day from the date of the incident you are complaining about. However, where the statutory grievance procedures apply, that time must be extended by a further three months to allow the parties time to attempt to resolve the dispute

The Employment Tribunals Regulations introduced new forms that must be completed by a claimant and respondent indicating respectively the details of the claim and any response. The claim form is called the ET1 (replacing the IT1 that was used prior to October 2004), and the response form is called the ET3. The use of the forms was compulsory from 6 April 2005, following a six-month transitional period in which both previous forms and the new forms were used.

The new forms also ask you to provide more extensive details about your complaint. Copies of the claims forms are available from your nearest tribunal office - see the Employment Tribunals website.