Posted: Friday, 4 January 2019 @ 13:43
Historically within Employment Tribunal cases the loser does not pay the winners legal costs, unlike in most other forms of litigation.
Nevertheless as an experienced Employment lawyer, I have noticed an increasing trend for both lawyers(Claimants and Respondents) to issue costs threats against other parties.
Typically what will happen is that a Respondent firm may try to put pressure on a Claimant by threating to obtain a costs award against the Claimant.
It is not uncommon for the Claimant(or his or her representative) to hit back with its own threat of costs.
But is this all, hot air?
I think it is.
The law is that a tribunal may make a costs order against a party for either a sum not exceeding £20 000 or an amount determined by way of a detailed assessment in the county court.
In reality, costs will not be awarded to the winning party against the losing one in the vast majority of Employment Tribunal cases unless the losing party has acted badly or the claim was misconceived.
This does not necessarily help us is that it is routine for Claimant(and Respondent) lawyers to be told that their claims(legal positions) are misconceived.
Statistically, the Employment Tribunals (ET) received an overall total of 186,300 claims during 2011-12.
The number of costs awards made by Tribunals was 1,411 ET claims with 1,295 of those awards being to the Respondent (and out of these 1,411- 800 of these awards involved a multiple case involving 800 claimants and a £4,000 cost award to the Respondent).
The total number of costs awards is totally insignificant compared with the 186,300 claims accepted by the Tribunal. (If you take away the 800, and make it one, of of these awards this leaves 612 out of 186,300 had costs awards) .
Statistically in any Employment Tribunal there is therefore a 0.32% chance of getting a costs award made and if you do the median figure (excluding the 800 awards and substituting them with one award of £4,000) is £1,730.
How scared are you, now?