THE LEGAL NIGHTMARE

The jurisdiction of Employment Tribunals spans unfair dismissal, sex, disability and race discrimination, equal pay, redundancy consultation, written statements, the working-time directive, part-time workers regulations plus several others.

There is a limit of £72300 on compensation for unfair dismissal, but there is no limit where the employee is dismissed unfairly or selected for redundancy for reasons connected with health and safety matters or public interest disclosure ('whistleblowing').

Average compensation shown in the 2011 Employment Tribunals Service annual report was £8,924 for unfair dismissal cases, £30,289 for age discrimination, £12,108 for race discrimination cases, £13911 for sex discrimination cases and £14137 for disability discrimination cases.