Unison brought two challenges to rules brought in to impose fees for the bringing of cases in the Employment Tribunal.
Held: The appeals were dismissed. The imposition of a fee would not constitute an interference with the right of effective access to a tribunal under EU law unless it made it impossible in practice to access the tribunal. That depended on whether the fee was unaffordable, and not on whether the payment of the fee would be a sensible use of money.
Underhill LJ saw no safe basis for ‘an inference that the decline [in the number of claims] cannot consist entirely of cases where potential claimants could realistically have afforded to bring proceedings but have made a choice not to’ Only evidence of the actual affordability of the fees in the financial circumstances of typical individuals could enable the court to reach a reliable conclusion that the fees were realistically unaffordable in some cases (ibid). Underhill LJ also rejected the arguments based on the Public Sector Equality Duty and the discrimination ground.
Judges:
Moore-Bick VP CA, Davis, Underhill LJJ
Citations:
[2015] EWCA Civ 935, [2015] WLR(D) 370, [2016] 1 CMLR 25, [2016] ICR 1, [2015] IRLR 911, [2016] 4 All ER 25
Links:
Statutes:
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Unison, Regina (on The Application of) v The Lord Chancellor and Another Admn 7-Feb-2014
The claimant challenged the Regulations and Orders charging for the laying of complaints at Employment Tribunals, saying they were mistaken and discriminatory.
Held: The challenge failed. The new Order was not in breach of European Union . .
Appeal from – Unison (No 2), Regina (on The Application of) v The Lord Chancellor Admn 17-Dec-2014
The union sought to challenge by judicial review the systems for charges for court fees for claims brought before the employment tribunals.
Held: The challenge failed. On the evidence now available (and not available on the first challenge) . .
Cited by:
Appeal From – Unison, Regina (on The Application of) v Lord Chancellor SC 26-Jul-2017
The union appellant challenged the validity of the imposition of fees on those seeking to lay complaints in the Employment Tribunal system.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The fees were discriminatory and restricted access to justice.
The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, European
Updated: 03 September 2022; Ref: scu.551704