{"id":9123,"date":"2023-07-04T00:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T00:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/uk\/?post_type=resources&p=9123"},"modified":"2026-03-20T09:27:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:27:58","slug":"manage-an-employment-tribunal-claim","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/uk\/resources\/hr-compliance\/disciplinary\/manage-an-employment-tribunal-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"7 tips to help employers manage an employment tribunal claim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Tina Elliott<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running an employment tribunal claim can be challenging. When an employee brings a claim against your company and the ET1 form lands on your desk, what happens next? Tina Elliott, a part-time employment tribunal judge, offers some tips to help you manage the tribunal process efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. You have received a claim form – can you bring a counterclaim?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You might think that when an employee brings a claim against you, you can bring a counterclaim, as you would be able to do in the civil courts. That is generally untrue in the employment tribunal. The process is largely restricted to a claim (ET1<\/a>) and a response (ET3<\/a>), which is the employer<\/a>‘s defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is one exception, however. This is when an employee brings a breach of contract claim, including a claim for notice pay. In such cases, the employer can bring a counterclaim. The amount that can be claimed is capped at \u00a325,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The case management hearing – what to expect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For more complex claims \u2014 that is, those that are not for unfair dismissal or that are just money claims for holiday pay<\/a>, notice pay or unpaid wages \u2014 the tribunal will schedule a case management hearing. A case management hearing invariably takes place in a discrimination claim or whistleblowing detriment claim. Usually lasting two hours and conducted over video, it has the purpose of setting out the steps and the timeline preparatory to the main tribunal hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important goal of the case management hearing is to allow the tribunal to work out the legal and factual issues that need to be decided at the main hearing. Much of this work in establishing the list of issues will be done with the claimant since they have brought the case, but the employer’s input will also be needed and you may want to flag up matters such as time limits or defences, eg that the treatment of the employee was justifiable and proportionate, that you may wish to raise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tribunal will ask parties about their time estimate for the duration of the main hearing. It is common at this point only to think about how many witnesses are involved and how long the cross-examination will take. But there are other factors to build in. For instance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n