Unison vows to continue the fight for justice
Unison vows to continue the fight for justice
The union UNISON has vowed to appeal after its court challenge to “punitive” employment tribunal fees was rejected by High Court judges. The fees introduced on 29 July last year mean workers can be required to pay up to £1,200 for taking a tribunal complaint about issues including victimisation for workplace safety activities (Risks 615), sexual harassment or race discrimination. Announcing their decision to dismiss UNISON’s judicial review application, Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Irwin said the “fundamental flaw in these proceedings is that they are premature and that the evidence at this stage lacks that robustness necessary to overturn the regime.” UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “We provided clear evidence that since the fees were introduced, the number of employment tribunal cases has collapsed. It is doubly disappointing therefore that it was decided that our case had been taken too early. The sad fact is that workers are being treated unfairly now.” According to UNISON, from September 2012 to September 2013, there was “a fall in all claims of 56 per cent, while sex discrimination claims fell 86 per cent and unfair dismissal claims dropped by 81 per cent,” a change the High Court accepted was “dramatic”. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady commented: “The decision of the High Court is very disappointing, and it's good to see that UNISON plans to appeal. It's important that the fight for access to justice for anyone who has been wronged at work continues.” UNISON said one concession had already been won as a result of its justice campaign. Dave Prentis said: “We are pleased that pressure from our case did win a significant concession from government so that workers winning their claims are entitled to have the fees reimbursed by their employers.” He added: “The bottom line is that the government should not put a price on justice. We strongly believe that these fees are unfair and should be dropped, which is what we will argue in the Court of Appeal.”
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