Employment tribunals should be given powers to make awards of up to £100,000 for breach of contract and to deal with disputes where staff are still in work, the Law Commission has recommended.
The strict time limit of three months to lodge claims after leaving employment should also be doubled to six months, the independent body which reviews legislation in England and Wales has proposed.
In a 200-page report, the commission says employment tribunals should be able to hear complaints by employees that they are working excessive hours in breach of maximum working time limits.
The recommendations, released in the middle of the coronavirus crisis, coincide with calls this week from a coalition of more than 20 justice organisations for the government to relax the three-month deadline to lodge employment tribunal claims during the pandemic.
Since the tribunals were created in 1964 their jurisdiction has been steadily expanded. They now deal with a wide variety of claims brought by employees and workers for unfair dismissal and discrimination in the workplace.
Their work involves less formal procedures than courts. Representatives do not need to be lawyers, and tribunals do not award costs to the winning party.
The Law Commission says its recommendations, if implemented, would enhance the protections that employees and workers receive from the employment tribunals against discriminatory and unlawful practices.
The proposals would increase the powers of employment tribunals while maintaining their exclusive jurisdiction over many types of claims.
The law commissioner, Nicholas Paines QC, said: “Employment tribunals play an important role in resolving disputes and protecting the rights of workers. However, the system is not working as well as it should.
“The reforms that we have recommended will bring real benefits for the courts and tribunals system and its users. The adjustments will improve employment tribunals’ ability to resolve employment disputes as effectively and justly as possible in one place.”
