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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

Alan Price comments Employment Tribunal Decisions Online

The Ministry of Justice’s online tribunal database has gone live. From today, all future employment tribunal decisions will be uploaded to the government website with some older judgments from 2016 already available.

This database allows anyone to access first instance decisions. Previously, anyone wanting to browse employment tribunal judgments had to go to offices in Bury St Edmunds or Glasgow or pay a fee to order a specific judgment by mail. The new website allows visitors to search the database by name, date, judge, jurisdiction code or free text.

The placing of judgments in the public domain increases access to justice, however, there are negatives to this public exposure which employers may not yet be aware of. This database allows anyone to view judgments which often contain large amounts of detail about the working practices and the business itself. Where employers have lost the tribunal, it is not unusual for the judgment to be critical of the business and these will now be available to read. Additionally, future job applicants can go on to search against prospective employers to see their tribunal history and can make decisions about whether to apply for the role using this information.

Another possible consequence is that current employees can also access the database and search against their employer. This could lead to knock on claims or even threats to take employers to tribunal for similar issues to benefit the employee financially. In cases where the employer is heavily criticised, they might find themselves the subject of a headline as reporters are now able to trawl through a large number of judgments to find an interesting employment law story.

Whilst access to justice is a must for the public, the potential for reputational damage to businesses is high. It is now more important than ever for employers to perfect their employment practices and apply the correct rights to staff to ensure they’re not ending up in front of a tribunal.  

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