Due to how our legal system works Employment Tribunal cases are not classed as precedents. (This means that they can’t be used to support any argument you or your representative are wishing to portray) However if the tribunal case is then taken further such as to the Employment Appeal Tribunal or to the Courts above that (i.e. the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court) any decision made by these courts will be precedent and can be used to support your own tribunal case. If it has been heard in all of the higher courts then the Supreme Court is the judgment you have to consider.

What we are trying to list here are some of the key cases that are regularly used in the tribunals and which are useful to consider if you are thinking about making a claim.

General Principles

Polkey v AE Dayton Services Ltd – A case establishing whether procedural failures should affect compensation.

Unfair Dismissal

British Home Stores Ltd v Burchell – A case establishing the principle for how a tribunal should determine whether a dismissal was fair and the steps involved in the dismissal.

Iceland Frozen Foods v Jones – A case establishing the principle of range of reasonable responses regarding to establishing whether a dismissal was fair.

Constructive Dismissal

Western Excavating v Sharp – A case establishing the principles behind any successful constructive dismissal claim.

Redundancy

Williams and Others v Compair Maxam – An integral case establishing the procedure which employers should consider when having to make redundancies

If you think any of these Employment Tribunal cases which have gone on to form essential principles relate to your situation please do no hesitate to contact us on 020 3923 0888 to discuss your case further and gain some initial advice on whether you have a case that could be taken forward.