Can I go to an employment tribunal?

Summary

This guide is for anyone who has been treated poorly at work and wants to understand if they can take the issue to an employment tribunal. This guide covers the law and process in England and Wales. The process is slightly different in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. 1 You might take a case to the employment tribunal if: 2 Time limits for employment tribunal 3 Evidence 4 About this guide * you have not been paid what you should. * you have been badly treated at work, such as being discriminated against or harassed. * you have not been allowed the holiday, time off work, or breaks at work that you should have been. * you worked for your employer for two years and were not paid the correct redundancy pay. * you have not been allowed your rights as a pregnant member of staff or a parent. * you have unfairly lost your job or have been treated so unfairly you felt you had to quit. To take a case like this to an employment tribunal, you usually must have worked for your employer for more than 2 years and had employee status. Employment tribunals do not have the power to deal with every work-related problem. Someone has to have broken the law or breached your contract for you to take.

Key information

• you have not been paid what you should.
• you have been badly treated at work, such as being discriminated against or harassed.
• you have not been allowed the holiday, time off work, or breaks at work that you should have been.
• you worked for your employer for two years and were not paid the correct redundancy pay.
• you have not been allowed your rights as a pregnant member of staff or a parent.
• you have unfairly lost your job or have been treated so unfairly you felt you had to quit. To take a case like this to an employment tribunal, you usually must have worked for your employer for more than 2 years and had employee status.
• This guide is for anyone who has been treated poorly at work and wants to understand if they can take the issue to an employment tribunal.
• This guide covers the law and process in England and Wales. The process is slightly different in both Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• 1 You might take a case to the employment tribunal if: 2 Time limits for employment tribunal 3 Evidence 4 About this guide
• you have not been paid what you should. * you have been badly treated at work, such as being discriminated against or harassed. * you have not been allowed the holiday, time off work, or breaks at work that you should have been. * you worked for your employer for two years and were not paid the correct redundancy pay. * you have not been allowed your rights as a pregnant member of staff or a parent. * you have unfairly lost your job or have been treated so unfairly you felt you had to quit. To take a case like this to an employment tribunal, you usually must have worked for your employer for more than 2 years and had employee status.
• Employment tribunals do not have the power to deal with every work-related problem. Someone has to have broken the law or breached your contract for you to take them to employment tribunal. It might be that what happened to you was unpleasant or unfair, but not unlawful. For example, if you are being treated badly at work because of a protected characteristic, you can take that to a tribunal because that is discrimination. But if you were treated badly for another reason you might not. See discrimination at work for more details.
• You usually take your employer, ex-employer or an employer you applied for a job with to an employment tribunal. By ‘employer’ we mean the organisation you work for, rather than your boss – although in a very small organisation these might be the same.

Practical guidance

• Source: Can I go to an employment tribunal?

Related topics

More in this area

• Challenge your redundancy
• Check how much redundancy pay you can get
• Check what happens if you win your employment tribunal case
• Check what it might cost to make an employment tribunal claim
• Check your employment status