The Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013

STARTING A CLAIM

Presenting the claim

8.—(1) A claim shall be started by presenting a completed claim form (using a prescribed form) in accordance with any practice direction made under regulation 11 which supplements this rule.

(2) A claim may be presented in England and Wales if—

(a) the respondent, or one of the respondents, resides or carries on business in England and Wales;

(b) one or more of the acts or omissions complained of took place in England and Wales;

(c) the claim relates to a contract under which the work is or has been performed partly in England and Wales; or

(d) the Tribunal has jurisdiction to determine the claim by virtue of a connection with Great Britain and the connection in question is at least partly a connection with England and Wales.

(3) A claim may be presented in Scotland if—

(a) the respondent, or one of the respondents, resides or carries on business in Scotland;

(b) one or more of the acts or omissions complained of took place in Scotland;

(c) the claim relates to a contract under which the work is or has been performed partly in Scotland; or

(d) the Tribunal has jurisdiction to determine the claim by virtue of a connection with Great Britain and the connection in question is at least partly a connection with Scotland.

Multiple claimants

9.  Two or more claimants may make their claims on the same claim form if their claims are based on the same set of facts. Where two or more claimants wrongly include claims on the same claim form, this shall be treated as an irregularity falling under rule 6.

Rejection: form not used or failure to supply minimum information

10.—(1) The Tribunal shall reject a claim if—

(a) it is not made on a prescribed form; or

(b) it does not contain all of the following information—

(i) each claimant’s name;

(ii) each claimant’s address;

(iii) each respondent’s name;

(iv) each respondent’s address.

(2) The form shall be returned to the claimant with a notice of rejection explaining why it has been rejected. The notice shall contain information about how to apply for a reconsideration of the rejection.

Rejection: absence of Tribunal fee or remission application

11.—(1) The Tribunal shall reject a claim if it is not accompanied by a Tribunal fee or a remission application.

(2) Where a claim is accompanied by a Tribunal fee but the amount paid is lower than the amount payable for the presentation of that claim, the Tribunal shall send the claimant a notice specifying a date for payment of the additional amount due and the claim, or part of it in respect of which the relevant Tribunal fee has not been paid, shall be rejected by the Tribunal if the amount due is not paid by the date specified.

(3) If a remission application is refused in part or in full, the Tribunal shall send the claimant a notice specifying a date for payment of the Tribunal fee and the claim shall be rejected by the Tribunal if the Tribunal fee is not paid by the date specified.

(4) If a claim, or part of it, is rejected, the form shall be returned to the claimant with a notice of rejection explaining why it has been rejected.

Rejection: substantive defects

12.—(1) The staff of the tribunal office shall refer a claim form to an Employment Judge if they consider that the claim, or part of it, may be—

(a) one which the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to consider; or

(b) in a form which cannot sensibly be responded to or is otherwise an abuse of the process.

(2) The claim, or part of it, shall be rejected if the Judge considers that the claim, or part of it, is of a kind described in sub-paragraphs (a) or (b) of paragraph (1).

(3) If the claim is rejected, the form shall be returned to the claimant together with a notice of rejection giving the Judge’s reasons for rejecting the claim, or part of it. The notice shall contain information about how to apply for a reconsideration of the rejection.

Reconsideration of rejection

13.—(1) A claimant whose claim has been rejected (in whole or in part) under rule 10 or 12 may apply for a reconsideration on the basis that either—

(a) the decision to reject was wrong; or

(b) the notified defect can be rectified.

(2) The application shall be in writing and presented to the Tribunal within 14 days of the date that the notice of rejection was sent. It shall explain why the decision is said to have been wrong or rectify the defect and if the claimant wishes to request a hearing this shall be requested in the application.

(3) If the claimant does not request a hearing, or an Employment Judge decides, on considering the application, that the claim shall be accepted in full, the Judge shall determine the application without a hearing. Otherwise the application shall be considered at a hearing attended only by the claimant.

(4) If the Judge decides that the original rejection was correct but that the defect has been rectified, the claim shall be treated as presented on the date that the defect was rectified.

Protected disclosure claims: notification to a regulator

14.  If a claim alleges that the claimant has made a protected disclosure, the Tribunal may, with the consent of the claimant, send a copy of any accepted claim to a regulator listed in Schedule 1 to the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 1999(1). “Protected disclosure” has the meaning given to it by section 43A of the Employment Rights Act 1996(2).

(1)

S.I. 1999/1549, amended by the Energy Act 2004 (c. 20), and S.I. 2003/1993, 2004/3265, 2005/2035, 2005/2464, 2005/3172, 2008/531, 2008/2831, 2009/462, 2009/2457, 2009/2748, 2010/7, 2010/671, 2011/2581, 2012/462, 2012/725, 2012/1641, 2012/1479, 2012/2400.

(2)

1996 c. 18; section 43A was inserted by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1996 (c. 23), section 1.