Employees Will Have Six Months to Bring Claims in an Employment Tribunal
Published byLiam A Entwistle
On 27 November, the Government published amendments to the Employment Rights Bill which is currently making its way through parliament. It runs to 53 pages.
The most obvious change is a new provision which will extend the time limits for employment-related claims to six months.
Labour's manifesto pledge to Make Work Pay included a proposal to increase the time limit within which employees can bring employment claims from three to six months. The original Bill didn't include this, but the “Next Steps” document stated, ‘measures to extend the time limit for bringing claims to Employment Tribunals will also be added via amendment’.
The Current Rules
If an employee wishes to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal, they usually have three months to do so from the act they are complaining about. The exceptions are:
• equal pay claims; and
• claims for statutory redundancy payments
where claimants' have six months to issue their claims.
What are the changes?
Claimants will have six months to bring all employment tribunal claims, including those relating to unfair dismissal, holiday pay and discrimination.
Why change?
The government has accepted the findings of the Law Commission, which recommended back in 2020 that the time limit for bringing all types of employment tribunal claims should be extended to six months. It said that bringing a claim within three months is difficult for a significant number of claimants, particularly if they wanted to pursue internal grievance procedures.
It also asked the government to consider whether the rules which allow tribunals to extend time are still fit for purpose.
The government hasn't taken them up on this suggestion.
When will this change come into force?
The best estimate is that this provision will come into force some time in 2025 once the Bill is enacted.
Claimants will still have to comply with Acas Early Conciliation before issuing most claims.
For expert employment law advice contact the WJM team at employment@wjm.co.uk
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