Monies Owed To You

If you have not received all the money you are entitled to from your employer, the Employment Tribunal will make an award in your favour for the amount you are owed.

What you are entitled to will be in the Employment Letter or Contract of Employment sent to you by your employer at the outset of your employment. In the absence of an Employment Letter or Contract of Employment, the law in effect stands in its place; known as your statutory rights.

Interestingly the law provides that the terms of an Employment Letter or Contract of Employment cannot be less favourable than your statutory rights. So for example, if your hourly rate of pay is less than the Minimum Wage specified by law, you will be entitled to an award equivalent to the shortfall.

Examples of areas where money might be owing to you are:

• Unpaid salary
• Unpaid notice period
• Unpaid holiday entitlement
• Unpaid sick pay
• Unpaid redundancy pay
  

Statutory Breach Awards

The law requires employers to perform certain tasks within certain time frames. If they do not, the Employment Tribunal will award you a “Penalty Payment”.

For example, an employer must provide you with an Employment Letter or Contract of Employment within a specific period of time giving a minimum specified amount of information.

The amount you will be awarded will be dependent upon the aspect of the law which has been breached by your employer.

Compensatory Awards

If an Employment Tribunal finds that you have been unfairly dismissed or made redundant or forced to resign unfairly (known as constructive dismissal) by your employer and your claim is eligible, the Employment Tribunal will make a total award comprising of some or all of the following:

• Basic Award - This is to compensate you for the loss of your statutory rights.
• Loss of Earnings - This is to compensate you for the amount you have lost from when your employment ceased to the Hearing.
• Future Loss - If by the time your case is heard by an Employment Tribunal you have not been able to obtain another job or even if you have, the new job pays you less than the job you lost, the Employment Tribunal may award you a sum that they feel is appropriate for any financial losses you may suffer after the Hearing.

There are two additional things to take into consideration when assessing the potential value of your Compensatory Award:

• Some types of claims have a maximum Compensatory Award (for example Unfair Dismissal) that can be ordered in your favour. The maximum figure normally increases annually by approximately the rate of inflation. It is therefore advisable to speak to a specialist Solicitor if you require clarification.
• The law requires you to do your best, as soon as possible after your employment has ceased, to obtain alternative employment at a salary level equivalent or higher than the salary you were earning. This is known as mitigation. If your claim reaches a hearing and you have still not been able to obtain alternative employment, the Employment Tribunal will probably expect you to provide evidence of your mitigation by providing for example, copies of job applications, registration forms with Recruitment Agencies or Job Centres and records of interviews attended (if any).

Injury To Feelings

An award for injury to feelings is only made where some or all of your claim is related to an act of race, sex, age or disability discrimination.

You will not be entitled to compensation for any injury you have suffered as a result of the discrimination; rather the injury itself demonstrates the extent to which your feelings were hurt or injured as a result of the discrimination you have suffered.

Broadly, the factors that will be taken into consideration by the Employment Tribunal when making an award are:

• The nature of the discrimination; in other words how bad was it.
• The content of discrimination; in other words for how long and how many times did the acts of discrimination occur.
• The nature of the mental anguish the discrimination caused.
• The length of time it took you or is likely to take you to recover from the mental anguish.
• The effect the mental anguish will have on your life.

In the most severe of discrimination cases, a psychiatrist or psychologist’s report will need to be obtained or they may even be required to give evidence in person at your hearing.

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