Law Firm Sees Huge Rise in Employment Work
July 2004
A NORTHERN law firm has seen a 40 per cent increase in its employment work - more than twice the national average.
Crutes Law Firm, which has bases in Newcastle, Carlisle and Middlesbrough, has seen a major growth in cases involving equal pay and sexual discrimination claims.
In the last six months alone Crutes has had over 500 applications issued against its NHS clients.
This mirrors a national increase, as revealed this week by the Annual Report and Accounts of the Employment Tribunals Service (ETS) which showed a significant increase in the number of registered tribunal applications compared to last year.
Nationally, 115,042 applications were registered compared to 98,617 for the year 2002-2003, an increase of 17 per cent. Sexual discrimination cases rocketed a massive 76 per cent, from 8,128 to 14,284.
But Tim Smith, Head of Employment at Crutes, thinks the figures could actually be higher than the statistics show and thinks even more claims will be brought in the future.
He said: "Many cases are actually dealt with through a compromise procedure between the employer and employee. While some of these cases are remedied with money, this procedure, as well as being totally private and keeping the case out of a public court, can offer more inventive solutions than a tribunal.
"These could include outplacement training, a really good reference or use of a company car for an extended period.
"We feel a lot more new claims will be brought in the coming year as recent legislation introduced to protect people against discrimination on the grounds of religion and sexual orientation becomes better known. The new discipline and grievance procedures which come into force in October are also likely to lead to more claims."
The reasons for the massive upturn in the case numbers, Tim said, could be put down to the numbers of firms offering "no win no fee" representation. He said: "This could be encouraging people who might not have made a claim to do so. Also on the equal pay front, one reason for this increase could be that if you are successful in your claim for equal pay, your arrears are back-dated for six years.
"It is a complex area of law, and one that employers should be aware of - they could find themselves discriminating against a person who has a "disability" even though most people would not normally see it as such.
"Although alcoholism would not be classed as a disability, liver disease as a direct result of alcoholism is regarded by the law as a disability, even though it is entirely self inflicted.
"We would advise employers to ensure they know exactly where they stand on discrimination and other employment legal matters to help them avoid being taken to a tribunal by a disgruntled employee.
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