Bodies known as Employment Tribunals deal with most work-related legal action. Until 1998 these were know as Industrial Tribunals. Employment tribunals operate in England, Wales and Scotland. In Northern Ireland the system is similar but the tribunals are called Fair Employment Tribunals.
These tribunals are specialist employment 'courts'. A tribunal will be made up of 3 people. The employment judge will be legally qualified, and there will be 2 lay members, one of whom has been chosen as an employee representative and the other as an employer representative.
As a panel, all members must exercise impartiality but the lay members will be expected to bring their employment experience to bear when judging the facts of the case. However in some cases the employment judge will sit alone, particularly when there are any preliminary legal arguments. (Please note that the Conservative-led Government is consulting about increasing the situations in which judges can hear cases without lay members.)
The tribunals are serviced by regional offices, which process the claims and arrange for the hearings.
Tribunals were originally intended to provide a relatively cheap, speedy and informal means of settling employment rights disputes between employees and employers. While they are still less formal than civil courts, they have become more legalistic and formal as the law has become more complex.
However, most claims at tribunals are about working time, unauthorised deductions from wages and unfair dismissal. Argument is therefore normally about the facts of the matter and less about legal points. This means you do not necessarily need legal representation, (though you would no doubt benefit from it).
