An employment tribunal claim may be an avenue available to you if you’re unhappy with a decision taken by your employer, and it is a decision that an employment tribunal has jurisdiction to deal with.

A full list of the types of claims that can be made at an employment tribunal can be found on the Gov.uk website. These include unpaid wages, notice pay, holiday pay, unfair dismissal, equal pay and discrimination claims.

Northern Ireland

The equivalent institution in Northern Ireland is the Industrial Tribunal. There are many similarities between the two in terms of process, but the terminology is sometimes different. If you work in Northern Ireland, please see the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) for more specific information.

Read our guidance

If you feel you have been treated unfairly at work, we recommend you read our range of advice guides first. They cover topics such as:

• discrimination
• unfair, wrongful or constructive dismissal
• grievance
• health and safety issues
• bullying and harassment

If you are considering a claim to an employment tribunal, please read the section on RCN support below.

Before pursuing an employment tribunal claim you (or someone representing you) are legally required to notify ACAS using the ‘early conciliation’ form. Early conciliation is a service provided by ACAS. In Northern Ireland, the equivalent is provided by the Labour Relations Agency (LRA). The information below covers the process via ACAS - you can find out more about the process in Northern Ireland on the LRA website.

If you are considering early conciliation please read 'RCN support with tribunal claims' below and contact us before taking any further action. 

Either you or the employer can decline ‘early conciliation’, in which case ACAS will issue a certificate immediately.

If you engage in early conciliation, ACAS will issue a certificate at the end of that process (usually after 12 weeks). If you submit an employment tribunal claim without an early conciliation certificate your claim will be rejected.

Early conciliation may help you reach an agreement on various workplace disputes without having to go to a tribunal. These include:

• unfair dismissal
• discrimination complaints
• redundancy payment disputes
• deductions from wages and unpaid holiday/notice pay claim
• time off difficulties
• equal pay disputes

If the RCN Legal Services department believes that your potential employment tribunal claim has reasonable prospects of success, they will represent you during the early conciliation process. Find out more in the 'RCN support with employment tribunal claims' section below.

Early conciliation has an impact on the calculation of the deadline for presenting an employment tribunal claim, and it is your responsibility to be certain of the deadline for presenting your potential claim.

There are strict time limits on making an employment tribunal claim. These can be tricky to calculate exactly, but in most cases the claim must be lodged with the employment tribunal within three months (less one day) of the relevant event. Time in early conciliation ‘stops the clock’ and if you notify ACAS using the 'early conciliation form' in time, you have up to one calendar month from the date of the Early Conciliation Certificate. There are some exceptions to this. See the government’s information at Gov.uk.

To qualify for a claim of unfair dismissal you must be employed with your current employer for two years. There are certain circumstances where the qualifying period does not apply such as when the unfair dismissal is one of the automatically unfair categories (that is, in connection to maternity rights, paternity leave, asserting a statutory right, health and safety cases, whistleblowing and trade union activities).

If the time limits are missed, you can still claim for some things such as unpaid wages, notice pay and equal pay in the civil courts in England or Sheriff court (Scotland), where longer limitation periods (up to six years in some cases) apply.

If you are considering a tribunal claim please contact us before taking any further action, including starting the early conciliation process yourself. It is important to obtain advice promptly as there are strict time limits (see ‘Time limits’ above). It is vital that you seek our advice as soon as possible, to enable our legal team to assess any potential claim and advise you whether we can support you. We may not be able to offer full support if we have less than six weeks to prepare before the end of the time limit.

We can support you at early conciliation and/or any subsequent employment tribunal proceedings if you are in the correct category of membership at the time of the incident and your claim is deemed to have reasonable prospects of success - that is, more than 51% probability of success. This decision will be made by the RCN Legal Services department. You must not name the RCN as your representative for early conciliation or a tribunal claim without our knowledge and consent.

In addition to the merits criteria, the RCN also operates a minimum value threshold for employment tribunal claims and we will not support those with a value below £1,000 net. We can also not support small claims in the civil courts (that is, valued at £10,000 or less).

If our criteria for support are not met

If we decide your case does not meet our criteria for support you can still continue with your claim, either with or without the help of a solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau. If you pursue early conciliation/an employment tribunal claim independently, the RCN will not be responsible for your legal costs.

If you would prefer to explore other options, your RCN representative could still help you. Depending on the circumstances and what you want to achieve, they could support you through workplace processes to help resolve the issue. This could include:

• discussing your issue informally with your line manager, HR, an Equality and Inclusion Officer or other designated person at your workplace. You could read our problems at work checklist for guidance on how to approach this. ACAS have also produced really helpful guidance to support conversations like this: How to raise a problem - Talking to your employer about a problem. This is generally the quickest way to resolve an issue.
• requesting mediation. Mediation is held by a neutral person called a ‘mediator’, who may be another member of staff at your workplace or an external mediator. Mediation is voluntary, confidential and informal. Find out more about mediation on the ACAS website.
• raising a formal grievance or complaint. Read our advice on grievance for more information on what is involved in this process.
• using a raising concerns/whistleblowing processes (if relevant to the issue you’re facing). Read our raising concerns toolkit for more information.

Many health care staff experience unfair treatment that doesn’t meet the legal test for certain claims, like unfair dismissal or unlawful discrimination. This treatment can still cause harm and is unacceptable. Your RCN representative can help you decide what to do next and support you in moving forward.

Early conciliation commenced prior to RCN involvement?

If you trigger the early conciliation process prior to seeking the RCN's advice, we will review the merits of your potential complaint and confirm whether it meets our criteria for support; you must seek RCN advice before you start early conciliation to give us sufficient time to properly assess your case. Any delay in seeking our support could adversely affect the support we can offer. 

Early conciliation has an impact on the calculation of the deadline for presenting an employment tribunal claim, and it is your responsibility to be certain of the deadline for presenting your potential claim. See the section on ‘Time limits’ above.

Gathering evidence

Before contacting us, you should start gathering evidence or supporting information that you might have.

This could include:

• emails, messages or other paperwork relating to the issue that will be the subject of the claim (for example, your dismissal or discrimination against you)
• your own diary of events (like our bullying diary if you have been using it)
• a list of witnesses; is there someone else who witnessed what happened?
• medical evidence, if health issues are relevant to your issue. 

If the issue is ongoing, please continue to gather evidence/information that demonstrates what is happening to you. Your own personal diary of events will be really important to help us piece together a timeline of what has happened.

Your representative will ask you:

• what happened
• when it happened
• who was involved and what their role is
• whether it is still happening
• whether you are being treated differently to other staff; if so, how?
• what you think might be driving this behaviour/issue; what is the reason for you being treated this way?
• how it made you feel; how did you feel at the time? How do you feel now?
• what impact the issue has had on you at work; are colleagues treating you differently? Has it affected your career development?
• if you already raised the issue with your employer, what their response was and/or what explanation they gave you for what happened
• what impact the issue has had on your personally (think about your wellbeing, your health, your family life, your finances – anything you think has changed in your personal life as a result of what has happened)
• whether you have any supporting documents or evidence of the behaviours/treatment that you’ve experienced.

Be ready to answer these questions to help us assess and prepare your case.

Not in RCN membership at the time of the incident?

If you want to pursue a tribunal claim but you were not in RCN membership at the time of the incident, please read our advice on accessing support for matters which occurred outside RCN membership. The RCN will be unable to offer you representation on this occasion.

Immigration status

If you are working in the UK on a visa, please visit Immigration: your questions answered for more information about the impact on your immigration status. Your visa status is tied to your contract with your employer, so it is important that you understand what could happen next. 

Witnesses

If you are called as a witness for a tribunal hearing, read our advice for witnesses. If you are concerned that being a witness in the hearing could result in any action being taken against you, then you should contact us. 

Discrimination

If your claim involves a complaint of discrimination, read Discrimination: assessing and preparing your case and contact us without delay. 

Tribunal hearings

Read our guidance on tribunal hearings for more information on what to expect if your claim proceeds.

Other sources of support

These formal processes are challenging but the RCN is here to support you. If you need emotional support, please contact us. Our Counselling team may be able to help you. Find out more about our Counselling service.

You may find our other member support services helpful – such as the Peer support service and the Immigration advice service, depending on your circumstances.

If you have financial difficulties because of what has happened, see our financial wellbeing resources from our Welfare team.

Our careers service can help you move forward following a dismissal. Visit our careers resources, in particular our guidance on applying for jobs following investigation, dismissal, disciplinary or NMC referral.

If you pursue a claim in the employment tribunal, the proceedings will usually follow the same format:

1. preliminary hearing, followed by a
2. final hearing

At the final hearing:

1. you present your case with the support of your representative, witnesses are called and documentary evidence from both sides is submitted in the form of a trial bundle
2. your employer will then present their case, and call their witnesses
3. both sides can cross-examine the other’s witnesses
4. once the hearing is complete, each side will sum up and the Tribunal panel will retire to consider their decision
5. a decision is normally announced verbally at the end of the hearing.

The tribunal will decide if your claim is well founded. If they agree they will also decide on the appropriate remedy. In unfair dismissal cases, they may order your employer to re-instate you to your original job or re-engage you in a different job. The tribunal may also award compensation instead of or in addition to re-instatement or re-engagement.

Find out more about tribunal hearings in our guide.

In some situations, you may be permitted to give evidence to an employment tribunal from overseas. Please see the UK government guidance for more information.

Tribunals judgements (and sometimes the reasons for the judgement) are published online. See Employment tribunal decisions. 

England and Wales

The County Court deals with civil cases in England and Wales. Cases are dealt with by a judge. County Courts deal with a wide range of cases including contractual employment claims.

In England and Wales, a case will be dealt with in one of three ways depending on the level of claim:

• small claims track: for claims of £10,000 or less*. 
• fast track: for claims between £10,000 and £25,000. 
• multi-track: for claims over £25,000.

If you make a claim to the County Court you should consider the following:

• there is a six-year time limit to pursue a breach of contract claim from the date of the breach of contract 
• there is no limit to the financial awards for breach of contract 
• you can claim interest on the money you are owed. 

Sheriff courts (Scotland)

The Sheriff court in Scotland can deal with most types of civil cases and cases are dealt with by a Sheriff. A Sheriff is a judge assigned to a specific court. Cases the Sheriff court deals with can include:

• personal injury claims
• some employment issues
• housing problems
• debt problems
• some discrimination cases.

Depending on the amount being claimed, the case will proceed through a designated procedure. The Sheriff may decide to assign the case to the Court of Session.

Points to consider if making a claim to the Sheriff's court:

• there is a five-year time limit to pursue a breach of contract claim from the date of the breach of contract
• legal costs may be recovered if you win, subject to certain conditions 
• interest may be awarded from the date the sum fell due to be paid.

Go to the Scottish court's website for further information.

County Court (Northern Ireland)

The County Court in Northern Ireland deals with civil cases. The cases are dealt with by a judge or district judge.

The range of cases can include:

• employment problems
• some discrimination cases 
• landlord and tenant disputes 
• personal injury claims.

The small claims limit involves a claim of no more than £5000. Go to the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service website for further information.

You can make a claim to the small claims court for up to £10,000 in England and Wales and £3000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Mediation is available for small claims and not all claims result in a court hearing. You can also make the claim online.

England and Wales

You should always try to resolve the problem before it goes to court. You will usually have to pay a court fee and may not win your case or get any monies owed. 

The judge can decide that a case cannot be heard as a small claim if it is too complex. If your claim is above the small claims track limit, or a judge decides that you cannot use the small claims court, you will have to use the formal County Court procedure.

If you are considering making a claim for breach of contract, consumer problems or monies outstanding under the small claims procedure, or are defending a claim, please see the guidance at Gov.uk.

For online claims see Money Claim Online (MCOL).

Scotland

There is a different process for court claims in Scotland - please search for 'small claims' on the home page of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) website.

For online claims see Scotcourts.gov.uk.

Northern Ireland

To make a claim in Northern Ireland, please see the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service

Legal costs are not recoverable for small claims and as such the RCN will not support County Court claims of less that £10,000 in England or Wales or £5,000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Legal aid is not available for small claims.

If your claim is for an amount exceeding these thresholds, please contact us before taking any further action. It is important to obtain advice promptly as there are strict time limits involved, dependent on the type of claim you are making.

We could support you if you are in the correct category of membership at the time of the incident and your claim is deemed to have reasonable prospects of success - that is, more than 51% probability of success. This decision will be made by the RCN Legal Services department. You must not name the RCN as your representative for court proceedings without our knowledge and consent.

Tribunal hearings

Discrimination

Discrimination: assessing and preparing your case

Witnesses

Self-employment