Employers will be both interested in, and alarmed at, the contents of the Employment Tribunals Service Annual Report for 2003/2004.

The report makes grim reading. It confirms a significant increase in the number of tribunal applications and indicates that cases are generally becoming more complex.

No fewer than 115,042 tribunal applications were registered. Although the vast majority of claims were for unfair dismissal or unlawful deductions from pay, by far the largest increase was in sex discrimination cases.

These jumped from 8,128 in 2002/2003 to 14,284 in 2003/2004; a staggering increase of 76 per cent. A large number of these claims were brought against the Department of Work and Pensions following a tribunal ruling - later overturned - that the requirement for men to wear a shirt and tie at work was unlawful discrimination.

Of the claims registered, 31 per cent were withdrawn by the applicant and 37 per cent were settled through arbitration. A total of 14 per cent of registered claims succeeded at tribunal, with ten per cent failing.

The recent introduction of new employment rights appears so far to have had only a negligible impact on the workload of tribunals - to date, there have been only 61 claims regarding the right to flexible working, 30 allegations of unlawful discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and 22 regarding discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.

More worrying for employers, tribunals made more than 600 costs orders against respondents, about half the number made against applicants.

If the report demonstrates anything, it is that the compensation culture is alive and well and that employees are more prepared than ever to enforce their rights. Any employer ignoring this does so at their peril.

* Stephen Elliott is a solicitor in the employment team of North-East law firm Ward Hadaway. He can be contacted on 0191-204 4000 or by email at stephen.elliott@wardhadaway.com

Published: 17/08/2004