The employment tribunal, in plain English

Acas

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. An independent body offering free advice and help to employers and workers about workplace problems. You have to contact Acas before you can bring most tribunal claims.

Acas arbitration scheme

A voluntary alternative to a tribunal hearing for unfair dismissal and flexible working claims. Both sides agree to have the dispute decided by an arbitrator instead, in private, with no appeal on the law. Rarely used, but it exists.

Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures

Guidance from Acas on how an employer should handle discipline and grievances fairly. The current version was published on 11 March 2015 and is still the one in force. A tribunal takes it into account when deciding whether a dismissal was fair, and can adjust compensation by up to 25 per cent either way if a party has unreasonably failed to follow it.

Acas Early Conciliation Certificate

A certificate issued by Acas confirming that early conciliation has been completed or is not possible. Required to bring most Employment Tribunal claims.

Acas Guide to Discipline and Grievances at Work

ACAS's practical advice on how to manage disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Acas uplift

If either side unreasonably fails to follow the Acas Code of Practice, the tribunal can increase or reduce compensation by up to 25 per cent. An employer who ignores the Code risks an increase; a claimant who ignores it risks a reduction.

Acts of Parliament

Laws made by Parliament.

Additional award

Extra compensation of between 26 and 52 weeks' pay, awarded where the tribunal has ordered your employer to take you back and the employer refuses to do it.

Additional information

The Employment Tribunal's term for an order requiring a party to explain their claim or response in more detail. The civil courts call it further and better particulars. If you are ordered to provide additional information, answer each numbered request separately.

Adjourned part-heard

A hearing that was started but paused and will continue on another date.

Adjournment

When a tribunal hearing is postponed.

Adviser's certificate

The signed statement attached to a settlement agreement confirming that an independent adviser has advised you on its terms and effect, and that they carry insurance. Without it the agreement does not validly waive your tribunal claims.

Affirmation (constructive dismissal)

Where you carry on working after your employer has done something serious enough to let you resign, and you wait too long, the law can treat you as having accepted the breach. That ends the right to claim constructive dismissal. There is no fixed period, but delay works against you.

Affirmation (giving evidence)

A promise to tell the truth, made instead of swearing on a holy book. It has exactly the same effect as an oath. Nobody has to explain why they prefer to affirm.

Age discrimination

Being treated worse because of your age. Age is the only protected characteristic where an employer can defend even direct discrimination by showing the treatment was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Agency worker

A worker hired through an agency, often for temporary work.

Agenda

Also written Case Management Agenda

A form used to help parties prepare for a case management hearing.

Aggravated damages

Extra compensation in a discrimination claim where the employer has behaved in a high-handed, malicious, insulting or oppressive way. It is not awarded simply because the discrimination was upsetting.

Alternative employment

Another job the employer could offer instead of making you redundant. An employer who does not look for suitable alternative employment risks the dismissal being unfair.

Amending a claim/Response

Also written Amending a claim, Response

Changing your claim or your response after it has been sent in. You need the tribunal's permission. The tribunal weighs up what the change really involves, whether the new complaint is in time, and the effect on both sides of allowing or refusing it.

Annual leave

Paid holiday. Almost all workers are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks a year, which includes bank holidays unless the contract says otherwise. Untaken leave accrued in the holiday year usually has to be paid out when the employment ends.

Anonymity Order

A Tribunal order preventing the publication of the name of a party or witness.

Apparent bias

Where a fair-minded observer, knowing the facts, would think there was a real possibility the judge or a panel member could not decide the case impartially. Raise it at the time if you can; raising it only after you have lost is much harder.

Appeal

Asking a higher court or tribunal to overturn a decision. An appeal from the Employment Tribunal goes to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, and can only be brought on the ground that the tribunal made an error of law.

Appellant

The party bringing an appeal. The other side is the respondent to the appeal, whether or not they were the respondent in the tribunal below.

Appraisal

A periodic review of your performance by your employer. A poor appraisal is not a disciplinary sanction, but it often turns up in evidence as the employer's account of when concerns began.

Arbitration

Where both sides agree to let an independent arbitrator decide the dispute instead of a tribunal or a court. The decision binds both of them.

Associative discrimination

Being treated worse because of someone else's protected characteristic, for example being turned down for a role because you care for a disabled relative. You do not need to have the characteristic yourself.

Attendance note

A written record of what happened during a meeting or hearing.

Automatically unfair dismissal

Some reasons for dismissal are unfair whatever process the employer followed. Examples include dismissal for whistleblowing, for trade union activities, for asserting a statutory right, and dismissal connected with pregnancy. Most of these do not need any qualifying period of service.

Balance of probabilities

The standard of proof in the tribunal. It means more likely than not. If the tribunal thinks something is 51 per cent likely to have happened, that is enough. It is a lower standard than the one used in criminal courts.

Band of Reasonable Responses

The test for unfair dismissal: did the employer’s process and decision to dismiss fall within a range that a reasonable employer could have arrived at.

Bar Standards Board

The regulator for barristers in England and Wales. Complaints about a barrister's conduct go to the BSB; complaints about service go to the Legal Ombudsman. The equivalent body for solicitors is the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Barrister

A lawyer who specialises in advocacy in court, in advisory work and in drafting. Barristers are usually instructed by a solicitor, but many are qualified to take instructions from the public directly.

Basic Award

Compensation for unfair dismissal, worked out in the same way as a redundancy payment: complete years of service, multiplied by an age factor, multiplied by a week's gross pay. A week's pay is capped. From 6 April 2026 the cap is £751 a week and the maximum basic award is £22,530.

Belief

Part of the protected characteristic of religion or belief under the Equality Act 2010. A belief has to be genuinely held, and be about a weighty and substantial aspect of human life, before it qualifies.

Bonus

An extra payment on top of salary. Whether you can claim an unpaid bonus depends on whether the contract or a consistent past practice gave you a right to it, or whether it was purely at the employer's discretion. Even a discretionary bonus cannot be withheld irrationally or for a discriminatory reason.

Breach of a statutory restriction

Where continuing to employ someone would break the law, for example a driver who loses their licence, the employer has a potentially fair reason to dismiss. The employer still has to act reasonably, which usually means considering alternatives first.

Breach of contract

A claim that one side has broken an agreed term of the employment contract. The Employment Tribunal can only hear a breach of contract claim brought by an employee if the claim arises on or is outstanding at the end of the employment, and it cannot award more than £25,000. Anything above that has to go to the County Court or the High Court.

Bullying

There is no free-standing claim for bullying in the Employment Tribunal. Bullying only becomes a tribunal claim if it is related to a protected characteristic and amounts to harassment, or is a detriment for a reason the law protects such as whistleblowing, or is serious enough to amount to constructive dismissal.

Bumping

Where an employer, instead of making a redundant employee go, moves them into someone else's job and dismisses that person instead. An employer does not always have to consider it, but failing to think about it at all can make a redundancy dismissal unfair.

Bundle

Also written Hearing Bundle

Also referred to as the trial bundle, all the relevant documents and evidence in a case are collected together, given page numbers, and put in a lever arch file for use at the tribunal hearing.

Bundle index

The contents list at the front of the hearing bundle, showing each document, its date, and the page it starts on. The tribunal reads the index first, so make sure yours is accurate.

Burden of proof

This is the duty on a party, usually the Claimant, to convince the tribunal of the necessary facts and issues to give judgment in their favour.

Capability

Ability to perform your job. One of the potentially fair reasons for dismissal.

Capability procedure

Procedure which is designed to support employers in dealing with problems regarding the performance of employees.

Case law

Law made by decisions in earlier cases. Decisions of higher courts bind the tribunal, so a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal or the Court of Appeal has to be followed.

Case Management Hearing (CMH)

Also written CMH, Case Management Hearing

A private preliminary hearing where the judge sets the timetable for the case, identifies what the tribunal has to decide, and makes orders about disclosure, witness statements and the bundle. Usually held by video or telephone. It is the hearing that shapes everything that follows.

Case Management Order

The written orders a judge makes setting out the steps each side has to take and the dates by which they have to be done. Failing to comply can lead to an unless order, a costs order, or part of a case being struck out.

Case name

The way a decided case is written, with the parties either side of a lowercase v, as in Polkey v AE Dayton Services Ltd. The letters and numbers after it are the citation, telling you the year, the court and where the judgment is reported. You do not need to understand the citation to read the case.

Case number

The reference the tribunal gives your claim when it is accepted, in a format such as 1234567/2026. Put it on every letter, email and document you send. Without it your correspondence may not reach your file.

Cast list

A list of the people mentioned in the case, with their job titles and their role in the events. Not always ordered, but it helps the tribunal follow the evidence, particularly where there are many names.

Catch-up CMH

A hearing listed after all Orders are due to be complied with but before the Final Hearing, to ensure the Orders have, in fact, been completed and the Final Hearing can proceed.

Causation

The link between what the employer did and the loss or treatment you complain about. It is not enough to show the employer acted badly and that you suffered; you have to show the one caused the other.

Cause of action

The legal claim itself, as distinct from the facts behind it. The same set of events can give rise to several causes of action, for example unfair dismissal and discrimination at once. It matters on amendment applications, where adding a new cause of action is treated more strictly than relabelling an existing one.

Chagger Reduction

A reduction to compensation in a discrimination claim where the tribunal finds that the same thing would have happened anyway for a non-discriminatory reason. Named after Chagger v Abbey National plc [2009] EWCA Civ 1202.

Chronology

An agreed list of the key dates and events in the case, in date order, with a bundle page reference for each. Tribunals often order one. It is one of the most useful documents you can prepare, because it forces you to test whether the story you are telling is supported by documents.

Claim

The formal application asking the tribunal to hear your complaint. You make it on the ET1 claim form.

Claimant

The party who brings a claim.

Closing submissions

What each side says at the end of the hearing, after all the evidence, about why they should win. You can put them in writing. Deal with each issue in the list of issues in turn, and point to the evidence for each.

Cloud Video Platform (“CVP”)

One of the video systems the tribunals use to hold remote hearings. It works in a similar way to Zoom or Teams. Some hearings now use the Video Hearings Service instead.

Collective Agreements

Agreements reached between Trade Unions and employers, often setting terms and conditions of employment.

Collective bargaining

Negotiation between an employer and a recognised trade union over pay, hours and other terms, on behalf of a group of workers rather than one individual.

Company handbook

The employer's written policies on discipline, grievances, absence, conduct and the rest. Whether it forms part of your contract matters: if it does, breaching it can be a breach of contract; if it is non-contractual, it is still evidence of the process the employer said it would follow.

Comparators

The person, real or hypothetical, you compare yourself with to show you were treated worse. The comparison only works if there is no material difference between your circumstances and theirs.

Compensation

Monetary award.

Compensatory award

One of the awards available for unfair dismissal and is calculated on the basis of loss of earnings and other benefits.

Compromise agreement

The old name for settlement agreement. A legally binding agreement to settle claims.

Conciliation

An alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute use a conciliator, who meets with the parties both separately and together in an attempt to resolve their differences.

Conduct

A matter that relates to the conduct of an employee is a potentially fair reason for dismissal.

Conduct extending over a period

Where discrimination is an ongoing state of affairs rather than a series of separate events, time runs from the end of that period rather than from each individual act. It is a common way of bringing older allegations within the time limit.

Confidentiality clause/Non-Disclosure Agreement

Also written Confidentiality clause, Non-Disclosure Agreement

A term in a settlement agreement stopping one or both sides telling anyone else about certain matters. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 confidentiality clauses that prevent someone speaking about harassment or discrimination are due to become unenforceable, expected during 2027.

Consideration

What each side gives in return under a contract. It is why a settlement agreement pays you something: without something of value passing, the waiver of your claims may not bind.

Consolidation

Where the tribunal orders two or more claims to be dealt with together as one. Common where several employees bring similar claims against the same employer.

Constructive dismissal

Dismissal where the employee resigns as a result of the employer's breach of contract.

Contempt of Court

Disobeying a tribunal order or disrupting proceedings. Recording a hearing without permission is a criminal offence under the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

Continuing act

Continuous discriminatory state of affairs.

Continuous employment

The unbroken period you have worked for the same employer. At present you normally need two years of it before you can bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 that drops to six months for dismissals taking effect on or after 1 January 2027. Check the current position before you rely on it.

Contract for services

A self-employed contractor's agreement to do work. It is not a contract of employment, and someone working under one has far fewer rights.

Contract of employment/service

Agreement between an employer and an employee which sets out their employment rights, responsibilities, and duties.

Contributory Conduct/Contributory Fault

Also written Contributory Conduct, Contributory Fault

Where the claimant’s own actions contributed to their dismissal or loss, potentially reducing compensation.

Costs

Money spent on legal fees and other expenses in bringing or defending a claim. Unlike the civil courts, the Employment Tribunal does not normally order the loser to pay the winner's costs. It can only do so in limited circumstances, mainly where a party or their representative has acted unreasonably or has brought a claim with no reasonable prospect of success. The tribunal can assess costs itself up to £20,000.

Costs Warning

An indication from one party that the other party’s conduct may lead to a costs order being made against them.

COT3

A form used by ACAS to record the terms of settlement of an employment tribunal case.

Counsel

Another word for a barrister. If a letter says the respondent has instructed counsel, it means a barrister will be appearing against you at the hearing.

Counterclaim

Where a Claimant has brought a breach of contract claim in the ET against the Respondent, the Respondent can bring a counterclaim for breach of contract against the Claimant in the ET3.

County Court

This is the lower-level civil court, below the High Court, and it is where most civil claims will be brought.

Court of Appeal

The court above the Employment Appeal Tribunal. An appeal to it needs permission and, again, is limited to points of law. Above it sits the Supreme Court.

Covert recordings

Recordings made without telling the other person. Tribunals sometimes allow them in evidence, but not always, and secretly recording a private discussion between decision-makers can itself be misconduct. Recording a tribunal hearing without permission is a criminal offence.

Cross Examination

Questioning of a witness by the other party in a hearing to test their evidence.

Cross-appeal

Appeal brought by the other side after the appellant has appealed the original decision.

Custom and practice

Where something has been done consistently and openly for long enough that it becomes an implied contractual term, even though nobody wrote it down. Often raised about enhanced redundancy pay or bonuses.

CVP

See Cloud Video Platform (above).

Damages

Money awarded to make good a loss. In the Employment Tribunal the usual word is compensation; damages is the word used in the civil courts.

Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR

The law governing how your employer handles information about you. Two things follow for a tribunal claim: you can require the employer to give you the personal data it holds about you, and an employer who mishandles your data may face a separate complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Data subject access request

A written request to your employer for the personal data it holds about you. The employer normally has one month to respond. It is often the most effective way of getting hold of emails about you before you have any right to disclosure in the tribunal. Usually shortened to DSAR.

Day A and Day B

Day A is the date you contacted Acas to start early conciliation. Day B is the date on the early conciliation certificate. The period between the two is added back on to your time limit, and if the limit would otherwise expire within a month of Day B you get until one month after Day B. Getting these two dates wrong is one of the commonest ways of missing a deadline.

Debarring order

An order preventing a party from taking any further part in the proceedings, usually for repeated failure to comply with orders.

Declaration

A formal statement by the tribunal that your rights have been infringed. It is one of the remedies available in a discrimination claim, alongside compensation and recommendations.

Deduced effect

When deciding whether an impairment has a substantial effect, the tribunal looks at what the effect would be without medication or treatment. So a condition well controlled by tablets can still be a disability.

Deduction from Wages

All workers are protected from having their wages deducted, certain types of workers (e.g. retail workers) have additional protections.

Default Judgment

An old term. The Employment Tribunal no longer gives default judgments. If the respondent does not present a response in time, a judge can decide the claim without a hearing on the material available.

Defence

Argument opposing the other party's allegation. Called a Response or Grounds of Resistance.

Department for Work and Pensions

The government department responsible for benefits. It matters in a tribunal claim because benefits you received after dismissal can be clawed back out of your compensation. Usually shortened to DWP.

Deposit order

Amount of money, up to a maximum of £1,000, to be paid by the Claimant before the tribunal will hear the claim where the tribunal judge considers that the claim has little reasonable prospect of success. It can also be made in respect of a response.

Detriment

Being put at a disadvantage at work. The test is whether a reasonable worker would or might take the view that they had been disadvantaged in the workplace. An unjustified sense of grievance is not enough.

Direct access

Instructing a barrister yourself, without going through a solicitor. Barristers who have done the additional training can be instructed this way for advice, drafting or representation at a hearing. It is not suitable for every case, and a barrister has to turn the work down if you need the case-management support a solicitor provides.

Direct discrimination

Being treated less favourably than someone else because of a protected characteristic. Except for age, it cannot be justified.

Directions

Orders that a tribunal judge gives for the procedural steps that each side must take to ensure that all the appropriate evidence is available for the hearing.

Directions Hearing/Case Management Hearing

Also written Case Management Hearing, Directions Hearing

A type of preliminary hearing focused solely on setting out case management steps.

Disability

Under the Equality Act 2010 you are disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Long-term normally means it has lasted, or is likely to last, at least 12 months. Cancer, HIV infection and multiple sclerosis count from the moment of diagnosis.

Disability discrimination

An umbrella term. It covers six different claims: direct discrimination because of disability; indirect discrimination; discrimination arising from disability; failure to make reasonable adjustments; harassment related to disability; and victimisation. Each has its own test, so it matters which one you are bringing.

Disability impact statement

A short statement, usually ordered where disability is disputed, in which you describe in your own words what you can and cannot do day to day, and how the impairment affects you. Focus on the effect on ordinary activities, not on the diagnosis.

Disciplinary hearing

Hearing conducted by an employer to consider an allegation of misconduct against an employee.

Disciplinary procedure

The procedure carried out by an employer in cases of misconduct. It will usually be a 3-stage process: investigation, hearing, and decision.

Disclosure

Providing the other party all those documents that you have which you consider to be relevant to the case to be heard by the tribunal.

Disclosure List

A list of documents a party has in their possession that are relevant to the case, served during disclosure.

Discrimination

Treatment that the Equality Act 2010 prohibits because of a protected characteristic. Some forms require less favourable treatment than a comparator, such as direct discrimination. Others require only unfavourable treatment, with no comparator, such as discrimination arising from disability and pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

Discrimination arising from disability

Where a disabled person is treated unfavourably because of something that arises from their disability. E.g. they are dismissed because of their absence from work. Here they are not dismissed because they are disabled. Rather they are dismissed for something that arises from their disability: absence. This can be justified (see the definition of justification).

Dismissal

Ending of an employee's employment contract by the employer, or by the Claimant claiming constructive dismissal.

Dismissal of claim

The formal ending of a claim. Once a claim is dismissed you cannot bring the same complaint again.

Dispute Resolution Appointment

A confidential hearing at which an Employment Judge gives both sides a view of their prospects and tests how each side sees its chances, to encourage settlement. Nothing said at it can be used later.

Double recovery

A Claimant should only be compensated once for his losses. If he has already received state benefits for a period, then to be awarded loss of earnings for the same period would be double recovery.

DSAR

See Data subject access request.

Early conciliation

The requirement to contact Acas before bringing a claim, so that Acas can try to settle the dispute. The clock on your time limit stops while conciliation is running and starts again afterwards, which is why you have to work out Day A and Day B carefully.

EAT

See Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Effective date of termination (“EDT”)

Date on which the employment contract came to an end.

ELIPS

The Employment Law Litigants in Person Support Scheme. Free on-the-day advice and representation offered by volunteer lawyers at a number of tribunal venues. Availability varies, so check with the tribunal before the hearing.

Employee

Someone who is employed under a contract of employment /contract of service.

Employee liability information

Information about the transferring employees which, under TUPE, the old employer has to give the new employer before a transfer. It covers identity, age, terms, disciplinary and grievance records and any pending claims.

Employment Agencies

Organisations that find agency workers work.

Employment Appeal Tribunal

The tribunal which deals with appeals from the Employment Tribunal.

Employment Judge

Also written Judge

The person who presides over court or tribunal proceedings. Referred to as “Judge”.

Employment Rights Act 1996

The main Act setting out basic employment rights, including unfair dismissal, redundancy payments, notice and unlawful deductions from wages. It has been substantially amended by the Employment Rights Act 2025.

Employment Rights Act 2025

The Act which received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and which makes the largest set of changes to employment law in a generation. Its provisions come into force in stages between 2026 and 2027, including a six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal, longer tribunal time limits, restrictions on fire and rehire, and new rights for zero-hours workers. Very little of it took effect on Royal Assent, so always check whether a particular change is actually in force.

Employment status

Which of the three categories you fall into: employee, worker, or self-employed. It decides which rights you have. Employees have the most, including unfair dismissal and redundancy pay. Workers have holiday pay, the minimum wage and protection from unlawful deductions and discrimination. The genuinely self-employed have very few. Your status depends on how the relationship actually works, not on what the paperwork calls you.

Employment Tribunal

Also written Tribunal

Either: The judicial body who are tasked with determining alleged breaches of employment law; or The panel who will determine the claim. It could be an Employment Judge alone, or with two Non-Legal Members. The composition of the tribunal should be determined at the Case Management Hearing.

Enforcing an award

Winning does not mean being paid. If the employer does not pay, the award can be enforced through the County Court in the same way as any other judgment debt, and there is a separate government enforcement scheme with a penalty for non-payment. If the employer is insolvent, some payments can be claimed from the National Insurance Fund instead.

Equal Pay

A claim that, because of sex, someone was paid less than another who did the same work, work of equal value or work rated as equivalent.

Equal Treatment Bench Book

Judicial guidance on making hearings fair and accessible, covering things like reasonable adjustments for a disability, interpreters, and how to deal with a party who is not represented. You can read it free online, and you can ask the tribunal to apply it to your hearing.

Equality Act 2010

An Act of Parliament setting out discrimination law.

Equality clause

The term the Equality Act automatically reads into your contract so that, where you are doing equal work with a comparator of the opposite sex, your terms are no less favourable than theirs. It is the mechanism that makes an equal pay claim work.

Error of law

The only ground on which you can appeal from the Employment Tribunal. It means the tribunal applied the wrong legal test, failed to give adequate reasons, took account of something it should not have, or reached a decision no reasonable tribunal could have reached. Disagreeing with the tribunal's findings of fact is not an error of law, and this is the point most appeals founder on.

ET

See Employment Tribunal.

ET1

Also written Claim Form

The form the claimant fills in to start a claim in the Employment Tribunal. You cannot present it without an Acas early conciliation certificate number.

ET3/Response

Also written ET3, Response

The respondent's response form. It has to be presented within 28 days of the date the claim was sent out, and the grounds of resistance go with it.

ETO reason

Short for an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce. Under TUPE, a dismissal connected with a transfer is automatically unfair unless the employer can show an ETO reason.

Ex gratia payment

A payment made without any admission that it was owed or that the employer did anything wrong. Common in settlement agreements. Up to £30,000 of a genuine ex gratia termination payment is normally free of tax, but sums that are really contractual, such as notice pay, are taxable however they are labelled.

Examination in chief

The questioning of your own witness in support of your case.

Expert Evidence

Evidence given by someone with specialist knowledge to help the Tribunal understand technical issues.

Express term

The actual terms contained within a contract of employment, such as rate of pay.

Extension of time

Extra time granted by the tribunal if a claim or appeal is brought outside the time limit or for additional time to comply with a tribunal order.

Fee-Paid Employment Judge

A practising lawyer who sits part-time as an Employment Judge. The alternative is a salaried Employment Judge, who sits full-time. Both have the same powers.

Fees

There is currently no fee to present a claim to the Employment Tribunal, and no fee for a hearing. Fees were introduced in 2013 and abolished in 2017 after the Supreme Court held them unlawful.

Final Hearing

The main hearing at which the Tribunal decides the case after hearing evidence and submissions.

Final written warning

The last warning, that is in writing, before dismissal might be considered.

Financial Penalty

An Order, not often made, that an employer who has been found to have breached employment rights, be required to pay a sum of money to the Government, akin to a fine.

Fire-and-Rehire

Dismissing employees and immediately offering to re-employ them on different terms. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 dismissing someone for refusing a change to certain protected terms, including pay, hours and pensions, becomes automatically unfair. Commencement is expected between October 2026 and January 2027, so check the current position.

Fixed-term contract

Contract of employment with a defined end date.

Fixed-term worker

Someone engaged under a fixed term contract. Protected from detriments because of that status.

Flexible Working

The ability to request a change in terms and conditions of employment to accommodate circumstances. Applicants are protected from dismissal or being treated poorly from making an application. The application can be rejected by the employer on specified grounds.

Format of hearing

Whether the hearing is in person at the tribunal, fully remote by video, or a mixture of the two. It is one of the things settled at the case management hearing, and you can ask for a particular format and give your reasons.

Free Representation Unit

A charity whose volunteer lawyers represent people at tribunal hearings free of charge, subject to capacity and referral criteria. Advocate performs a similar role for barrister assistance. Neither can take every case, so apply early.

Frustration of contract

Where something outside either side's control makes performing the contract impossible, so the contract ends automatically with no dismissal at all. Employers sometimes argue it in long-term sickness cases. Tribunals are reluctant to accept it, because it removes the employee's right to claim unfair dismissal.

Full and final settlement

Wording in a settlement agreement or COT3 meaning the payment closes off everything listed, so you cannot come back for more later. Read the list of claims being settled carefully, because it is usually much wider than the dispute you were actually having.

Full merits hearing

Another name for the Final Hearing, used to distinguish it from a preliminary hearing.

Fundamental breach of contract

Serious breach of contract. Often called “repudiatory”.

Further and better particulars

The old name for an order requiring a party to explain their claim or response in more detail. In the Employment Tribunal the term now used is additional information.

Future loss of earnings

Loss of earnings after the tribunal hearing.

Garden leave

The employee does not have to work their notice period but is still bound by their employment contract during this time. It is not the same as payment in lieu of notice.

Gender Reassignment

One of the protected characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010 from unlawful discrimination.

General Damages

Compensation for non-financial loss, such as injury to feelings and personal injury.

General Disclosure

Also known as “Standard Disclosure”, where the tribunal orders the parties to send to each other copies of all relevant documents they have in their possession. Failure to fully comply with this may lead to an application for Specific Disclosure.

Genuine occupational requirement

A narrow defence allowing an employer to require a particular protected characteristic for a job, where it is genuinely needed for the role and applying it is proportionate. An example is a counsellor at a women's refuge. It is read strictly and rarely succeeds outside obvious cases.

Grievance

Formal complaint.

Grievance procedure

The process the employer has to deal with grievances.

Gross misconduct

Serious misconduct including theft, fighting, and bullying that would justify immediate dismissal without notice.

Gross up/Grossing Up

Also written Gross up, Grossing Up

The process by which the tribunal will add on an amount to an award to take into account the amount of tax the recipient will have to pay.

Ground rules hearing

A short hearing to decide how a vulnerable witness should give evidence, for example by limiting the length of questioning or requiring questions to be put in a particular way.

Grounds of Appeal

The basis on which a person is appealing a decision.

Grounds of Complaint

The written part of your claim setting out what happened and what you say the employer did wrong. It goes with the ET1, usually as an attachment. Write it in date order, in numbered paragraphs, and make sure every complaint you want to bring appears in it.

Grounds of Resistance/Response

Also written Grounds of Resistance, Response

The respondent's written answer to the claim, setting out which facts are admitted, which are denied, and why the claim should fail. It goes in with, or attached to, the ET3.

Group Disadvantage

A requirement for indirect discrimination: the PCP must cause those with a particular protected characteristic a disadvantage.

Harassment

Unwanted conduct, related to a protected characteristic, which is designed to, or has the effect of, violating that person's dignity, creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. It also includes unwanted conduct of a sexual nature and less favourable treatment of a person because they have refused to submit to conduct of a sexual nature.

Health and Safety

Employees and workers who raise health and safety concerns, or who carry out health and safety duties, are protected from being dismissed or badly treated for doing so.

Hearing Timetable

A breakdown of who will be called on what days, so as to ensure the Tribunal hears the case within the time allocated. Discussed at the Case Management Hearing.

Hearing Together

Having similar cases heard at the same time. Often where the same witnesses and same issues are involved.

Hearings in public

Final hearings and open preliminary hearings are held in public. Anyone can attend, including journalists, and judgments are published on a public register. If that concerns you, you can apply for an anonymity or privacy order, but you have to justify it.

Hearsay

Evidence of something someone else said, offered to prove that what they said was true. The Employment Tribunal can accept hearsay, unlike a criminal court, but it usually carries less weight than evidence from the person who actually saw or heard the thing.

High Court

A senior civil court. Employment claims worth more than the tribunal's £25,000 contract limit, and applications to enforce restrictive covenants, are brought there or in the County Court rather than in the tribunal.

His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service/HMCTS

Also written HMCTS, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service

The body responsible for the administration of the Employment Tribunals.

Holiday pay

Payment of normal wages while the worker is on holiday.

Human Resources

The department which deals with employee issues such as disciplinary matters, payroll, recruitment, etc. Sometimes called the Personnel Department.

Hypothetical comparator

Theoretical person with whom an employee can compare themselves if an actual comparator is not available.

Ill-Health dismissal

A dismissal for capability.

Illegal contract

A contract whose terms are illegal, for example non-payment of tax and national insurance. Can be unenforceable.

Immediate loss of earnings

Loss of earnings for the period between the dismissal and the tribunal hearing. Sometimes called the prescribed period.

Implied term

Terms not specified in a contract of employment, for example the implied term of trust and confidence.

Income protection

Insurance, sometimes called permanent health insurance or PHI, paying a proportion of your salary while you are unable to work through illness. It matters on dismissal: dismissing a sick employee can destroy an entitlement to income protection payments, and doing so may itself be a breach of contract.

Independent contractor

Other name for self-employed.

Indirect discrimination

Where a rule, policy or practice applies to everyone but puts people who share a protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage, and puts you at that disadvantage too. An example is a requirement to work full-time, which applies to everyone but is harder to meet for people with childcare responsibilities. An employer can defend it by showing the rule was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Inference

Conjecture or assumption based on known evidence and facts.

Injunction

A court order requiring someone to do something or to stop doing it. The Employment Tribunal cannot grant one. Employers seeking to enforce a restrictive covenant go to the County Court or the High Court instead.

Injury to feelings

Compensation in a discrimination claim for the hurt, distress and upset caused by the discrimination. The amount is set by reference to the Vento bands.

Interest on awards

Interest is added to compensation in discrimination claims. It runs from the date of the discriminatory act for injury to feelings, and from a mid-point for financial losses. It is not usually available on unfair dismissal awards.

Interim Relief

An urgent order to continue paying a claimant’s wages until the claim is decided. Only available in certain claims such as whistleblowing or trade union dismissal.

Interpreter

If English is not your first language, or you are deaf, you can ask the tribunal to provide an interpreter free of charge. Ask as early as possible, because one has to be booked.

Investigation

Search for the facts and evidence after a complaint or accusation has been made.

IR35

The off-payroll working rules, which decide whether someone working through their own company should be taxed as an employee. It is a tax question, decided by HMRC rules, and a finding either way does not settle whether you are an employee or a worker for employment rights.

Itemised pay slip

Pay slip detailing gross and net pay and any deductions such as tax, NI, and pension contributions.

Joinder of parties

Add parties to a claim.

Joint and several liability

If two Respondents are held to be jointly and severally liable, the Claimant can recover all his damages awarded to him from either one of the Respondents.

Judgment

Decision of the court or tribunal.

Judgment in default

See Default Judgment.

Judgment register

The public online register where Employment Tribunal judgments are published. Anyone can search it by name. Most people bringing a claim do not realise this until afterwards, so it is worth knowing at the start.

Judicial Assessment

A free procedure to try to encourage parties to resolve their dispute by agreement at the preliminary hearing where the Employment Judge will provide an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each side's case, as well as the risks involved.

Judicial Mediation

A free process where both parties attend the employment tribunal without their witnesses, and an Employment Judge tries to encourage the parties to settle their dispute.

Jurisdiction

The Tribunal’s legal authority to hear a claim.

Just and Equitable

Either: The legal test for extending the time limit in discrimination claims. A term used when the tribunal needs to be fair to both sides.

Justification

A defence to certain sorts of discrimination, where the employer can show it the treatment was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Keeping in touch days

Employee on maternity leave, adoption leave, or additional paternity leave (now shared parental leave) to go into work for up to 10 days during their leave without ending that leave or losing their entitlement to statutory payments.

Knowledge of disability

An employer only has to make reasonable adjustments, and can only be liable for discrimination arising from disability, if it knew or ought reasonably to have known that you were disabled. Telling the employer about your condition, in writing, is the single most useful thing you can do to establish this.

Last straw

In constructive dismissal, a final act by the employer which on its own may be relatively minor but which, taken with earlier conduct, is enough to entitle you to resign. It has to contribute something to the earlier breaches, and it cannot be entirely innocuous.

Lay member

Also written Non-Legal Member

A person sitting with a judge hearing a tribunal claim who has no legal qualifications. Referred to as “Madam” or “Sir”.

Lay representative

Someone who is not a lawyer representing you at the tribunal, for example a friend, a family member or a trade union official. The Employment Tribunal allows this, unlike most courts.

Lay-off

Where the employer provides no work and no pay for at least one working day but the employment continues. After a qualifying period of lay-off or short-time working, an employee can give notice claiming a redundancy payment.

Lead Case

A case chosen to decide common issues affecting multiple related claims.

Leave

Permission: e.g. Leave to appeal Another word for holiday.

Legal advice privilege

Confidential communications between you and your lawyer for the purpose of legal advice do not have to be disclosed. Litigation privilege is the related protection for material created mainly for use in the proceedings once they are in contemplation.

Legal expenses insurance

Cover for legal costs, often attached to a home insurance or credit card policy without the policyholder realising. Check your policies before assuming you cannot afford representation.

Legitimate aim

A good reason or purpose for the some sorts of discrimination. See Justification.

Less favourable treatment

An element of direct discrimination: some on else is treated better than the claimant.

Letter before action

A letter setting out a claim and giving the other side a chance to respond before proceedings are issued. It is a requirement in civil court claims. There is no equivalent requirement before an Employment Tribunal claim, where early conciliation does that job.

Limitation period

The maximum time you have between the thing you are complaining about and presenting your claim. For most claims it is currently three months less one day, extended by the early conciliation period. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 this is due to increase to six months, expected in October 2026. Check the current position before relying on any time limit.

List of Issues

The agreed list of every question the tribunal has to answer. It is normally settled at the case management hearing and it governs the whole case: the evidence you gather, the documents in the bundle, the questions in cross-examination and the structure of the judgment. If a complaint is not on the list, it will usually not be decided. Getting the list right is the most valuable thing you can do at the case management stage.

Listing

Putting a case in to the tribunal diary.

Listing Hearing

A short Tribunal hearing to fix dates for the final hearing or other procedural matters. Usually conducted once all preparatory steps have been completed.

Litigant in person

A Claimant or Respondent representing themselves.

Litigation friend

Someone appointed to conduct proceedings on behalf of a party who lacks the capacity to do so themselves.

Lodging a claim

Taking a claim to court.

Loss of Statutory Rights

A small award, usually a few hundred pounds, included in the compensatory award for unfair dismissal. It reflects the fact that you have to build up service again with a new employer before you regain unfair dismissal protection.

Marriage and civil partnership

One of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. It protects people who are married or in a civil partnership. It does not protect single people, and it does not protect someone because they are engaged or divorced.

Material factor defence

The employer's answer to an equal pay claim: that the difference in pay is genuinely explained by something other than sex, such as location or length of service. If the explanation itself disadvantages one sex, the employer has to justify it.

Maternity Allowance

A payment from the state for people who do not qualify for statutory maternity pay, for example because they are self-employed or have not been with the employer long enough. Claimed from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave is the period of time a mother is legally entitled to take off work around the birth of her child, allowing her to recover and care for the baby.

Maternity Rights

The legal protections for employees who are pregnant, on maternity leave, or returning to work after having a baby. They include paid time off for antenatal appointments, up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance if you qualify, protection from unfair treatment or dismissal because of pregnancy or maternity, and the right to return to the same or a similar job.

McKenzie friend

Someone who sits with you at a hearing to take notes, help with documents and give quiet advice. They have no automatic right to speak for you, though a tribunal can allow it. You do not need permission to bring one, but tell the tribunal in advance.

Mediation

Process where an independent mediator attempts to settle a claim or complaint without going to court.

Minimum Wage

The minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate employers are legally required to pay most workers, set by the government to protect employees from unfairly low pay.

Misconduct

Behaviour the employer treats as unacceptable. One of the potentially fair reasons for dismissal.

Mitigating circumstances

Circumstances or reasons which would lessen the degree of blame.

Mitigation of Loss

The claimant’s duty to take reasonable steps to reduce their financial loss after dismissal, e.g. by finding alternative work.

Mobility clause

A contractual term letting the employer require you to work at a different location. It matters in redundancy: if the employer can lawfully move you, it may argue there is no redundancy at your old workplace. Even a wide clause has to be operated reasonably.

Mutuality of obligation

Employer's obligation to provide work and employee's obligation to do it. A key factor in deciding if a person is an employee or not.

National Insurance Fund

Where the state pays certain sums owed by an insolvent employer, including redundancy pay, notice pay, arrears of wages and holiday pay, up to statutory limits. Claims are made through the Redundancy Payments Service.

National minimum/living wage

The lowest wage that an employer can pay employees.

Negotiated exit

Agreeing to leave on terms rather than being dismissed or resigning outright. It usually ends in a settlement agreement, and the conversation leading to it may be protected from being referred to later.

Non-Disclosure Agreement (“NDA”)/Confidentiality Agreement

Also written Confidentiality Agreement, Non-Disclosure Agreement (“NDA”)

A term in a settlement agreement stopping one or both sides telling anyone else about certain matters. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 clauses preventing someone speaking about harassment or discrimination are due to become unenforceable, expected during 2027.

Not reasonably practicable

A ground for extending employment tribunal limitation periods where, due to circumstances beyond the claimant’s control, it was not reasonably possible to present the claim in time.

Notice of Appeal

The document starting an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. It has to arrive within 42 days of the date the judgment or the written reasons were sent to you, together with the required accompanying documents. The 42-day limit is applied strictly and extensions are rare.

Notice of Hearing

Written document from the Tribunal setting out the day and time of any hearing, and what will be decided at that hearing.

Notice pay

The pay an employee is entitled to receive from their employer (or vice versa) during the statutory or contractual notice period when employment ends.

Notice period

The period of time between the date an employee is informed of his dismissal or the date of his resignation and the date when the contract of employment comes to an end. Set by the contract or a minimum term is implied by the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Oath

A promise to tell the truth, sworn on a holy book, given before you begin your evidence. You can affirm instead.

Occupational health

A medical service the employer uses to advise it about an employee's health, fitness for work and any adjustments. An occupational health report is often central evidence in a disability or capability case. You are entitled to see the report before it goes to the employer if you ask.

Open Offer

A settlement offer that is not marked ‘without prejudice’ and can be referred to in Tribunal proceedings.

Open Preliminary Hearing

A preliminary hearing held in public to decide something substantive: whether you are disabled, whether a claim is in time, whether someone was an employee, or whether a claim or response should be struck out. Evidence is given and witnesses can be cross-examined. It is a very different thing from the private case management hearing, even though both are called preliminary hearings.

Oral Evidence

Witness attending tribunal and speaking their evidence. See “witness statements” and “taken as read”.

Order for Disclosure

A Tribunal order requiring a party to provide specific documents.

Order for Further and Better Particulars

A Tribunal order requiring a party to clarify or provide more detail about their claim or response.

Overpayment

One reason a deduction from wages can be made.

Overriding objective

The basic principles that the tribunal must have regard to, to deal with a case justly.

Pagination

Numbering every page of the hearing bundle in one continuous sequence. Once paginated, the numbering must not change, because everyone will refer to those page numbers throughout the hearing.

Panel Composition

Discussed at the Case Management Hearing, this will involve consideration of whether the Final Hearing will be determined by an Employment Judge sitting alone or a full panel of three: a judge and two-non-legal members.

Parental Leave

Unpaid leave a parent can take to look after a child. From 6 April 2026 it is a day-one right, so there is no longer any qualifying period of service.

Part-heard Hearing

A hearing that has started but is adjourned to continue on another day.

Part-Time Employment Judge

See Fee-Paid Employment Judge.

Part-time Workers

Those who work part-time are protected from being treated badly because of that status.

Paternity leave

Leave for a father or a partner around the birth or adoption of a child. From 6 April 2026 it is a day-one right, so there is no longer any qualifying period of service.

Payment in lieu of notice

Payment instead of working out the period of notice. It is sometimes abbreviated to PILON.

PCP

Acronym for Provision, Criterion or Practice (see Indirect discrimination).

PENP

Post-employment notice pay. A tax calculation working out how much of a termination payment represents notice you did not work. That element is taxed as earnings and does not get the benefit of the £30,000 exemption, whatever the agreement calls it.

Pension loss

The value of the pension contributions or benefits you have lost because of the dismissal. It is often the largest single item in a compensation claim, and it is the one most often left out of a schedule of loss. There is published guidance for tribunals on how to calculate it.

Perceived discrimination

Discrimination when the employee is thought or believed to have a protected characteristic.

Performance improvement plan

A structured period during which the employer sets performance targets and reviews whether you meet them. Usually shortened to PIP. It is normally the step before a capability dismissal, so the fairness of how it was set and reviewed often becomes central evidence.

Perversity

A ground of appeal alleging that the tribunal reached a decision no reasonable tribunal could have reached on the evidence. It is one of the hardest grounds to succeed on.

PHR

Pre-hearing review. The old name, used before 2013, for what is now called a preliminary hearing. You will still see it in older documents and guidance.

PILON

See Payment in lieu of notice.

PIP

See Performance improvement plan.

Pleadings

The formal written statements of case (ET1 and ET3) setting out each party’s arguments.

Polkey deduction

The case of Polkey v AE Dayton Services Ltd [1987] UKHL 8 provides for a reduction in any award for compensatory loss to reflect the chance that an unfairly dismissed employee would have been dismissed fairly in any event.

Portal

The computer system used by the tribunals for parties to contact the tribunal and upload documents.

Positive action

Steps an employer may lawfully take to help people who share a protected characteristic overcome a disadvantage or take part in an activity, for example targeted training or encouragement to apply. It is permitted; treating someone more favourably at the point of selection is only permitted in narrow circumstances.

Post-termination restrictions

See Restrictive covenant.

Postponement

Rescheduling a hearing to a later date before it starts.

Potentially fair reasons for dismissal

The five reasons that can make a dismissal fair: capability or qualifications, conduct, redundancy, a statutory restriction, and some other substantial reason. The employer has to show one of them, and then show it acted reasonably in treating it as a sufficient reason to dismiss.

Practice Direction/Presidential Practice Directions

Also written Practice Direction, Presidential Practice Directions

Formal guidance issued by the courts or tribunals on how certain procedures should be followed. Often made by the Presidents of the Employment Tribunals.

Pre-action conciliation

Usually mandatory early conciliation before a tribunal claim is brought.

Precedent

a) Model letter or template; b) Principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts.

Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination

Within s18 of the Equality Act 2010, which protects claimants from unfavourable treatment in certain circumstances.

Preliminary hearing

A hearing held before the final hearing. There are two very different kinds. A private preliminary hearing deals with case management only and is normally held by video or telephone. A public, or open, preliminary hearing decides something substantive, such as whether you are disabled, whether your claim is in time, or whether part of the claim should be struck out. Read the notice of hearing carefully, because the two require completely different preparation.

Preparation time order

An order that the losing side pay the other side for the time they spent working on the case, where that other side was not legally represented. The tribunal decides how many hours were reasonably spent and multiplies them by a fixed hourly rate. The rate rises by £1 every 6 April. From 6 April 2026 it is £46 an hour.

Prescribed period

The period between the dismissal and the date compensation is assessed. Correctly spelled prescribed, meaning laid down. It matters because state benefits paid during that period can be recouped.

Presidential Guidance

Guidance issued by the Presidents of the Employment Tribunals on how particular things should be done, for example on the Vento bands, on case management, and on general case management orders. Tribunals have to take it into account.

Presidents of the Employment Tribunals

The top judge in the Employment Tribunals.

Preventative duty

The duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers, in force since October 2024. A tribunal that upholds a sexual harassment claim can increase compensation by up to 25 per cent where the employer breached it. The Employment Rights Act 2025 raises the standard to all reasonable steps.

Privacy

An order limiting public access to a hearing or restricting what can be reported. The tribunal can sit in private, anonymise a party or witness, or restrict reporting where that is necessary to protect someone's rights.

Privilege

The principle that some documents or evidence need not be disclosed, for example correspondence between a solicitor and a client.

Probationary period

An initial period at the start of a job during which the employer assesses suitability. It has no special legal status, and it does not change your statutory rights. Discrimination and whistleblowing protection apply from day one whatever the contract says.

Prohibited conduct

Conduct that constitutes discrimination as set out in Chapter 2 Equality Act 2010.

Proportionate means

Part of the justification defence to discrimination, requiring a fair balance between the discrimination and the reason or purpose for it.

Protected act

An act done in relation to the Equality Act 2010, for which they are protected from being victimised, such as complaining about discrimination, that the law protects from retaliation.

Protected characteristic

A characteristic the Equality Act 2010 protects from discrimination. There are nine: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation.

Protected conversation

A confidential conversation between employer and employee about ending employment, protected from being referred to in certain claims.

Protected disclosure

Usually called whistleblowing. A report of certain kinds of wrongdoing at work, such as a criminal offence, a breach of a legal duty, or a danger to health and safety. You have to reasonably believe the information tends to show that wrongdoing, and that disclosing it is in the public interest. A worker who makes one is protected from dismissal and from being badly treated because of it.

Protective award

An award of up to 90 days' pay for each affected employee where the employer failed to consult properly before making 20 or more employees redundant at one establishment within a period of 90 days. From 6 April 2026 the maximum doubled to 180 days' pay.

Public interest test

Part of whistleblowing. You have to reasonably believe that making the disclosure is in the public interest. A complaint purely about your own contract will normally fail this test.

Public register of judgments

The online database where all Employment Tribunal judgments are published and can be searched by anyone, including future employers.

Qualifications

One of the potentially fair reasons for dismissal.

Qualifying disclosure

The first stage of whistleblowing. Information which you reasonably believe tends to show one of six kinds of wrongdoing: a criminal offence, breach of a legal obligation, a miscarriage of justice, danger to health and safety, damage to the environment, or the deliberate concealment of any of these. It becomes a protected disclosure once it is made to the right person in the right way.

Qualifying period

The length of continuous employment you need before you can bring a particular claim. For ordinary unfair dismissal it is currently two years. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 it drops to six months for dismissals taking effect on or after 1 January 2027. Many claims, including discrimination and whistleblowing, need no qualifying period at all.

Quantum

The amount of compensation being claimed or awarded.

Race discrimination

Being treated less favourably because of race, which includes colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins.

Re-employment

An order that a tribunal can make after finding a dismissal unfair, requiring the employer to take you back. It comes in two forms: reinstatement, meaning your old job, and re-engagement, meaning a different job with the same employer. Orders are rarely made and cannot be physically enforced, but refusing to comply leads to an additional award.

Re-engagement

Getting a different job with the same employer. Cf reinstatement.

Re-examination

Where a witness will be asked questions by his own representative dealing with matters raised in cross-examination of that witness or from the tribunal.

Re-labelling

Where an amendment application only puts a new legal label on facts you have already pleaded, rather than adding a genuinely new complaint. Tribunals are generally more willing to allow it, because nothing new is being introduced.

Reading list

A short list telling the tribunal which documents in the bundle to read before the hearing starts, and in what order. Often ordered for longer hearings.

Reasonable adjustments

Where a rule, a physical feature of the workplace, or the absence of an aid puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage, the employer has to take such steps as are reasonable to remove that disadvantage. Examples include changing hours, moving a workstation, or providing equipment. The employer only has the duty once it knows, or ought reasonably to know, that you are disabled and disadvantaged.

Reasonable belief

A belief that is genuinely held and that a reasonable person could have held on the information available at the time. Genuine belief on its own is not enough; there have to be reasonable grounds for it.

Reasonable grounds

Evidence or information sufficient to make a belief a reasonable one to hold. In a misconduct dismissal, the employer has to show it believed the employee was guilty, on reasonable grounds, after a reasonable investigation.

Reasonable investigation

Full and proper search for the truth of the allegation.

Reasonably practicable test

Reasonably feasible or reasonably possible. The test applied when bringing an unfair dismissal claim, and similar claims, out of time. The tribunal will ask was it reasonably practicable for the claim to have been presented in time.

Recommendations

Instruction by the tribunal to the employer to change some aspect of the employment that has resulted in discrimination. Only available in limited situations.

Reconsideration of judgment

Asking the tribunal to look at its own decision again where it is in the interests of justice to do so. You normally have 14 days from the date the judgment was sent to you. It is not a substitute for an appeal, and disagreeing with the outcome is not by itself a reason.

Recoupment

Process by which the DWP claws back money it has paid the Claimant by way of benefits from any compensation awarded to the Claimant.

Recoupment notice

Document sent by the DWP to the Respondent, detailing the amount of state benefits that Claimant has received, and the amounts the Respondent must pay to the DWP and the Claimant.

Redundancy

Dismissal as a result of a decision by the employer to reduce the workforce.

Redundancy Payment

A statutory or contractual payment made to an employee who is dismissed due to redundancy. Calculated the same way as a Basic Award: years’ service, times by an age multiplier, times then by gross weekly pay.

Reference

A statement about you given by a former employer to a new one. There is generally no obligation to give one, but any reference given has to be true, accurate and fair. Refusing or giving a bad reference because you brought a claim can amount to victimisation.

Regional Employment Judge

The senior judge in an Employment Tribunal region. Each reports to the President of the Employment Tribunals.

Reinstatement

Getting your old job back. Part of the Re-employment orders a tribunal can make in an unfair dismissal claim, along with re-engagement.

Rejection of a claim

Where the tribunal refuses to accept an ET1, for example because it is on the wrong form, is missing the Acas certificate number, or does not include the required information. You can apply for the decision to be reconsidered, but the claim is not treated as presented in the meantime, which can cause a time limit problem.

Relevant Transfer

A change in business regulated by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.

Religion or belief

One of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. It covers religious belief, philosophical belief, and the lack of any such belief.

Remedy

This is what you want from the tribunal if you are successful in your case. It is usually compensation but can include re-engagement or reinstatement.

Remedy Hearing

A hearing to decide the amount of compensation after liability has been established.

Remission

Where the Employment Appeal Tribunal sends a case back to the Employment Tribunal to be decided again, either by the same panel or by a different one.

Repudiation of contract /Repudiatory

Also written Repudiation of contract, Repudiatory

Where the employer has committed a serious breach of contract, the employee is regarding himself as no longer bound by the terms of the contract and is, in effect, treating the contract as ended. Also called a “fundamental breach”.

Reserved judgment

Where the decision is not given on the day of the hearing but will be sent to the parties in writing at a later date.

Resignation

Where the Claimant chooses to leave their employment.

Respondent

The party responding to a claim, usually the employer.

Restricted Reporting Order

The tribunal can limit what the press can report about a hearing.

Restrictive covenant

A clause in a contract restricting what you can do after the employment ends, such as working for a competitor or approaching former clients. It is only enforceable so far as it protects a legitimate business interest and goes no further than necessary. Disputes about them are heard in the civil courts, not the Employment Tribunal.

Reversed Burden of Proof

In discrimination claims, if the Claimant can show some evidence from which a tribunal could conclude that discrimination has occurred, the burden of proof may be reversed and so the employer will be required to prove that no discrimination had occurred.

Rule 3(10) hearing

A short hearing at the Employment Appeal Tribunal where a judge has decided on paper that an appeal has no reasonable prospect of success and the appellant asks for that decision to be looked at again in person.

Rules of Procedure

The written rules governing the tribunal process. They are the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024, which came into force on 6 January 2025 and replaced the 2013 Rules.

Salaried Employment Judge

A judge who sits full time. Compared to a Fee-Paid Employment Judge.

Sanction

Penalty usually imposed by a tribunal where one party has failed to comply with an order.

Schedule of Loss

A document prepared by the claimant setting out the compensation they are claiming. Often ordered at the Case Management Hearing.

Scott Schedule

A table setting out each allegation in a row, with each side's position in its own column. Tribunals often order one where there are many separate allegations, so that everyone can see what is admitted and what is in dispute.

Selection pool

Group of employees out of which redundancies will be made.

Self-employment

Working for yourself.

Service Provision Change

A type of TUPE transfer where work moves to a new contractor, is taken back in-house, or given to a new provider.

Set Aside

A civil court term for cancelling a judgment. In the Employment Tribunal the equivalent process is called reconsideration.

Settlement

Parties resolving the dispute without a final hearing.

Settlement agreement

A legally binding agreement under which you give up the right to bring specified claims, usually in return for a payment. To be valid you have to have received advice from an independent adviser, who has to be named in the agreement. It was called a compromise agreement until 2013.

Severance package

The overall set of payments and terms offered when employment ends by agreement. It usually combines notice, accrued holiday, sometimes an enhanced redundancy payment, and an ex gratia sum.

Sex

One of the characteristics protected from unlawful discrimination by the Equality Act 2010.

Sex discrimination

Being treated less favourably because of sex.

Sexual harassment

Unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which has the purpose or effect of violating your dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you. It also covers less favourable treatment because you rejected or submitted to that conduct. It sits within harassment but has its own rules, including the employer's duty to prevent it.

Sexual Orientation

One of the characteristics protected from unlawful discrimination by the Equality Act 2010.

Sham redundancy

Where a redundancy situation does not really exist but the employer makes someone redundant because they do not want them in employment any longer.

Shared Parental leave

Leave parents can share.

Sick pay

Payment whilst off sick. This could be statutory sick pay, which is the minimum sum an employer is required to pay for up to 28 weeks, or contractual sick pay.

Sift

The initial paper review of an appeal at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, where a judge decides whether it discloses an arguable point of law. Many appeals end here.

Skeleton argument

A document setting out the main submissions in summary form and will also include references to any reported cases the party will refer to and the principle of law or the passage in that case that they rely on.

Solicitor

A lawyer who takes instructions from clients directly, handles the running of a case, and can instruct a barrister where specialist advocacy or advice is needed. If you need someone to manage the case as well as argue it, a solicitor is usually the right starting point.

Solicitors Regulation Authority

The regulator for solicitors in England and Wales. Complaints about a solicitor's conduct go to the SRA; complaints about the service they gave go to the Legal Ombudsman.

Some other substantial reason

A catch-all potentially fair reason for dismissal covering situations that do not fit the other categories, such as a client insisting an employee be removed from a contract, or a complete breakdown in the working relationship.

SOSR

See Some other substantial reason.

Special measures

Adjustments to help a vulnerable witness give evidence, such as screens, giving evidence by video, or regular breaks. Ask for them in advance, ideally at the case management hearing.

Specific disclosure

An application made for disclosure of certain documents that are known to exist and that are in the possession of the other party., but which has not been disclosed as part of general disclosure.

Standard disclosure

Disclosure of documents that are relevant to the case. See General Disclosure.

Statement of truth

A signed declaration that the facts stated in a document are true. It is used in the civil courts. Employment Tribunal claim and response forms are not verified by one, so do not add it to an ET1 or ET3.

Statutes

Acts of Parliament, including the Equality Act 2010, the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Employment Rights Act 2025.

Statutory Cap

The maximum compensation the law allows for certain claims. For unfair dismissal the compensatory award is capped at the lower of 52 weeks' gross pay or, from 6 April 2026, £123,543. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 the cap is due to be removed for dismissals taking effect on or after 1 January 2027. There is no cap on discrimination or whistleblowing awards.

Statutory Defence

A legal defence available to employers if they can show they took all reasonable steps to prevent discrimination or harassment.

Statutory Instruments

Secondary legislation such as Working Time Regulations 1998.

Statutory Maternity Pay

The minimum maternity pay an employee can receive. It is paid by the employer, who recovers most or all of it from HMRC. If you do not qualify for it you may be able to claim maternity allowance from the state instead.

Statutory Minimum Notice

The minimum notice period an employer must give an employee, set by law.

Statutory rights

Rights that an employee has by virtue of a statute.

Statutory Sick Pay

The minimum payment an employer has to make while you are off sick, if you qualify. From 6 April 2026 the three waiting days and the lower earnings limit were removed, so it is payable from the first day of absence. Usually shortened to SSP.

Stay

Where proceedings are halted or suspended by the tribunal either indefinitely or for a specified period.

Stop the clock

The way early conciliation affects your time limit. The limitation clock pauses while conciliation is running and restarts afterwards, so the deadline moves.

Strike Out

A Tribunal order dismissing all or part of a claim or response without a full hearing.

Strike Out Application

An application to the Tribunal to dismiss all or part of a claim or response without a full hearing.

Subject to contract

A label meaning nothing is agreed until a formal document is signed. Used on settlement correspondence so that an exchange of emails does not accidentally create a binding deal.

Submissions

Summary of each party's argument made after the evidence has been heard.

Substantial disadvantage

The threshold in the reasonable adjustments duty. Substantial means more than minor or trivial, which is a lower bar than the word suggests.

Suitable alternative employment

Another job the employer offers to a redundant employee. If the job is suitable and you unreasonably refuse it, you can lose your redundancy payment. You are entitled to a four-week trial period in the new role.

Summary dismissal

Dismissal without giving notice.

Supplementary questions

Extra questions a party is allowed to ask their own witness at the hearing, usually to deal with something that has come up since the witness statement was written. Permission is needed and is not always given.

Supreme Court

The highest court in the UK (formerly known as the House of Lords).

Suspension

Where the employee is not allowed to attend work for a period of time because of a disciplinary investigation but remains employed on full pay.

Taken as read

The tribunal read the witness statements in advance of the hearing, so know what the witness will say before the hearing.

Tax indemnity

A clause in a settlement agreement making you responsible for any further tax HMRC later says was due on the payment, and usually for the employer's costs in dealing with it. It is standard, and it is the reason the tax treatment of each element matters before you sign.

Tax liability

For awards in respect of loss of earnings made in excess of £30,000, the Claimant may have to pay tax on the excess, the award will, therefore be subject to “Grossing Up”.

Termination of employment contract

Ending of an employee's employment contract.

Third-party harassment

Harassment of a worker by someone who does not work for the employer, such as a customer, a client or a contractor. The Employment Rights Act 2025 makes employers liable for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent it, expected from October 2026.

Time Limit

The deadline for presenting a claim. For most claims it is currently three months less one day from the act complained of, adjusted for the time spent in early conciliation. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 this is due to increase to six months, expected in October 2026. Time limits are the single most common reason good claims fail. Work yours out early, and check the current position before you rely on it.

Time off for dependants

The right to reasonable unpaid time off to deal with an unexpected problem involving someone who depends on you, such as a child falling ill or a care arrangement breaking down. It covers dealing with the emergency, not providing long-term care.

Timetable

Discussed at the Case Management Hearing, this is a breakdown of how the time will be spent at any upcoming hearing.

Tort

A civil wrong other than a breach of contract, such as negligence. Tort claims belong in the civil courts, not the Employment Tribunal, which is why a personal injury claim arising from work is brought separately even where the same facts support a discrimination claim.

Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

TULR(C)A 1992: The Act of Parliament dealing with trade unions.

Trade Union Detriment

A complaint that the Claimant has suffered a detriment for reason that can relate to their membership or proposed membership of a trade union.

Transcript

Written record of a hearing or meeting.

Transfer of undertakings

If one organisation acquires another, qualifying employees of the first organisation will transfer to the second organisation and retain all their existing employment rights. Governed by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulation 2006 (“TUPE”).

Transferee

Under TUPE, the organisation which acquires another, or the ‘new’ business.

Transferor

Under, TUPE the organisation which sells to another, or the 'old' business.

Trial period

A four-week period during which a redundant employee can try out a suitable alternative job without losing the right to a redundancy payment if it does not work out.

Trust and Confidence

One of the implied terms of a contract. So fundamental a term that breach of this is enough to bring the contract to an end.

TULR(C)A

Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

TUPE

Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.

Unfair dismissal

Termination of employment by the employer which is not for a fair reason, or did not follow a reasonable process.

Unfavourable treatment

Required by certain types of discrimination, and means being treated badly by discrimination, compare with “Less favourable treatment” which is different and required for direct discrimination.

Union recognition

Where an employer accepts a trade union as entitled to bargain on behalf of a group of its workers. It can be agreed voluntarily or imposed through a statutory procedure. Recognition is what gives a union the right to negotiate pay and conditions rather than only to represent individuals.

Union representative

A person from a trade union who supports a union member.

Unlawful deductions from Wages

Amounts of money which have been unlawfully deducted from the employee's pay.

Unless order

A tribunal order which tells one party to do something and if they don't, the claim or response will be struck out. Often ordered after the defaulting party has failed to comply with tribunal orders.

Upholding a grievance

Agreeing with the party who brought the grievance.

Uplift

An increase in compensation of up to 25% if the employer has unreasonably failed to follow the Acas Code of Practice. See ACAS Code of Practice.

Vento bands

The three brackets used to decide compensation for injury to feelings in a discrimination claim. For claims presented on or after 6 April 2026 they are: a lower band of £1,300 to £12,600 for less serious cases, such as a one-off incident; a middle band of £12,600 to £37,700 for cases that are serious but do not merit the top band; and an upper band of £37,700 to £62,900 for the most serious cases, such as a lengthy campaign of harassment. Exceptional cases can go above £62,900. The figures are updated every April, so check the current bands.

Vexatious Claim

A claim brought to harass the other side rather than to obtain a remedy. If the tribunal finds a claim vexatious it can strike it out without a final hearing, and a costs order may follow.

Vicarious liability

Where the employer is liable for the discrimination or wrongful act carried out by one of his employees in the course of his employment. See also Statutory Defence.

Victimisation

Where an employee is treated detrimentally because they have made a complaint, or helped someone else make a complaint, in connection with the Equality Act 2010. Contained within s27 of the Equality Act 2010.

Wages

Pay.

Waiver

Voluntarily giving up a legal right you know you have. It matters in settlement agreements, where you waive the right to bring listed claims. It also matters in constructive dismissal, where delaying too long before resigning can be treated as accepting the employer's breach.

Wasted costs

Costs order that is made against a party's representative rather than the party themselves.

Week's pay

Your gross weekly pay, used to calculate the basic award and a redundancy payment. It is capped, and the cap rises each April. From 6 April 2026 it is £751.

Whistleblowing

Making a protected disclosure. See Protected Disclosure.

Withdrawal

When a claimant formally discontinues their claim.

Without admission of liability

Wording in a settlement meaning the employer pays without accepting it did anything wrong. It is standard and it is not an obstacle to settling; it simply means the payment cannot be treated as an admission.

Without prejudice

A label on communications that are a genuine attempt to settle a dispute. It means the tribunal cannot be shown them. Writing the words on a letter does not by itself make it privileged, and the label does not protect a letter that is not really about settlement.

Without Prejudice Save as to Costs

A settlement offer that cannot be shown to the Tribunal until after judgment, when costs are considered.

Witness order

An order compelling someone to attend a tribunal hearing as a witness.

Witness statement

A document which sets out the evidence that the witness wishes to put before the employment tribunal.

Word Count

Some tribunals limit the length of witness statements by the number of words.

Worker

A worker includes employees but also covers people who work under a contract to perform personally some work or service but could not be classed as an employee. They receive more rights than the self-employed, but less than employees.

Working Time Regulations

Regulations governing such things as rest periods, holidays, and weekly hours.

Written grievance procedure

Process by which employees can make a formal complaint.

Written reasons for dismissal

Under section 92 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employee who is dismissed is entitled to written reasons for the dismissal. If these have not been given, the Claimant could be entitled to compensation.

Written statement of particulars

A required document, similar to a contract of employment.

Written warning

The second stage of warning, after a verbal warning. The third stage is a final written warning.

Wrongful dismissal

Where the employer has dismissed the employee in breach of the terms of the contract of employment, usually where the required notice has not been given.

Zero-hours contracts

A contract with no guaranteed hours or pay. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025 employers will have to offer qualifying workers a contract reflecting the hours they regularly work, and to give reasonable notice of shifts and of cancellations. These changes are expected during 2027.