Reimagining Employment Dispute Resolution and Enforcement

This open access book examines the evolution of employment tribunals from a speedy, informal process to a system marked by delays and significant financial and human costs.

Resolving disputes in the workplace is difficult, expensive and emotionally charged. The current system is broken but what is the answer? Using material from a large-scale empirical study, including a survey of over 200 practitioners, the book examines the problems facing the system. It then examines how these problems are addressed in other jurisdictions both in the UK and in other countries.

The book then considers what can be done. It suggests that by locating labour law disputes within a contract-tort-human rights frame this takes insufficient account of the fundamental emotional and behavioural factors that are in play. The book therefore argues that much can be learnt from the resolution of family law disputes, whether it be in relation to how a relationship that has ended can be satisfactorily concluded, or how a relationship with ongoing ties can be managed going forwards. Utilising this theoretical reframing, the book proposes a blueprint for the future of employment dispute resolution.

This book is for policy makers, practitioners and academics, looking for a rigorous empirical and theoretical analysis of what has gone wrong with employment dispute resolution and what can be done about it.