Employment Tribunals : Their Growth and the Case for Radical Reform

Employment tribunals began as industrial tribunals in the mid 1960s. Since then, their jurisdiction has expanded considerably under the Race Relations Act, equal pay legislation, the Sex Discrimination Act, various EU directives, legal judgments and the incorporation into UK law of the European Convention on Human Rights. They now have jurisdiction over more than eighty types of complaint. The number f applications, which has been rising rapidly, was over 130,000 in 2000-2001. Professor Shackleton examines the role of these tribunals and considers whether they can be justified in present-day conditions or whether they are a 'sixties leftover', as 'out-of-date as kaftans and love beads'

J. R. Shackleton is Professor of Economics at the University of Westminster and Head of Westminster Business School, and is a member of the IEA's Academy Advisory Council.