THE REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT IN THE PRACTICE OF THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS*
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1970.tb00581.x |
| Date | 01 November 1970 |
| Author | Charles E. McCormick |
| Published date | 01 November 1970 |
THE REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT IN THE PRACTICE
OF
THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS*
CHARLES E. MCCORMICK~
THE
Industrial Tribunals are an institution of increasing importance to
labour relations in Britain. Their main task is to adjudicate disputes
that arise under the Contracts of Employment Act and the Redundancy
Payments Act. They will also decide issues under the Equal Pay Act and
the proposed unfair dismissals legislation. These developments suggest
that the industrial tribunals are becoming the nucleus of a labour court
system,
It
is the purpose here, then, to explore the workings of the industrial
tribunals-their organization, procedure, and certain aspects of their
decisional processes. Since the conception of the tribunal is that
of
an
informal, speedy, non-legally oriented body, inspiring trust in its con-
stituents is essential not only to its practice under the Redundancy
Payments Act but
to
its future potential role. Therefore these characteris-
tics in particular will be closely examined.a
ORGANIZATION
The Industrial Tribunal (England and Wales) is really nine separately
organized tribunals sitting in twenty-seven panels in cities throughout
the nation:
No.
1
London proper No.
4
Birmingham No.
7
Leeds
No.
2
Home Counties No.
5
Bristol
No.
8
Manchester
No.
3
East Anglia
No.
6
Cardiff No.
9
Newcastle-
u pon-Ty ne
*
The tribunal was observed in session at the Central Office in London.
I
am obliged to the
President, Sir Diarmaid Conroy, Q.C., for taking the time to discuss his work with me, as well
as the facilities which he made available. The Secretary
of
the Tribunals, and particularly his
senior assistant, Miss
M.
Kentish Barnes were also most helpful.
There have been explicit suggestions by the Ministry of Labour that these tribunals
constitute
a
sort
of
nucleus labour court for the nation.
Euihe
of
the
Ministry
of
Labour
before
the Royal Commission on Trade Unions
and
Employer Associations, Minutes
No.
2,3,
para.
266.
See also, K. W. Wedderburn, ‘Labour Courts?’,
New
Society,
December 6, 1965,
p.
9
a
The observations and sample studies which form the basis for this article were conducted
at the Central Office in London
of
the Industrial Tribunals (England and Wales) during
winter 1968-69.
Although Scotland, as well
as
Northern Ireland, have also established tribunals, these are
t
Attorney at Law, Los Angeles, California.
For
explanation
of
the sampling method utilized,
see
note
3
1
infru
excluded from consideration here.
334
THE REDUNDANCY
PAYMENTS
ACT IN THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS
335
These tribunals are under the overall administrative responsibility of the
President located in London, but with the expansion of case load during
1967 and 1968, a reorganization created Regional Centres at cities
No.
4
-No.
9 above. Tribunals No.
1,
No.
2
and No.
3
remained under direct
administrative control of the Central Office. This shifted responsibility
for scheduling the tribunal hearings to the Regional Centre, as well as
certain connected filing and notice
provision^.^
Initial application must
still be made to the Central Office in order that a registration number be
assigned. The master file of tribunal decisions is also maintained there.
The tribunals meet
as
the demand requires, both as to days in session
and location within the counties assigned. The panels meet periodically
in neighbouring towns, such
as
Nottingham, Brighton and Carlisle.
However, the brunt of the load falls, as would be expected, on only
a
few
tribunals
:
TABLE
1"
Tribunal Sessions
Tribunal
London
Birmingham
Manchester
Cardiff (including Bristol)
Newcastle
LeedS
Home
Counties
East
Anglia
I968
Session-dap
985
515
41
1
332
277
272
200
62
Percentage
of
Total
32.3
16.9
13.5
10.8
9.0
9.0
6-5
2.0
TOTAL
3,054 100.0
While the use of days in session does not precisely measure the burden
on each tribunal, it does give an idea of the relative positions. It also
has implications for the expertise which some
of
the less busy tribunals
are obtaining in practice. In London and the busier centres, the typical
daily redundancy case load is three hearings, in others it is likely that
each session-day represents one, or perhaps two, hearings. The President
and
2
chairmen handle all the cases in London-divided roughly equally,
this means each participates in and writes the opinion in fully
10
per cent
of the total appeals to the tribunals.
The organizational picture which emerges, then,
is
that of
a
some-
what locally-oriented and controlled tribunal with responsibilities for
disputes in the locality. This seems
a
factor in gaining confidence among
local workers. Moreover, the tribunal will on occasion come to them,
rather than
uice
versa.
While some provincial tribunals may be gaining
See the Industrial Tribunals (Redundancy Payments) Regulations,
1967.
Based on interpolation from internal records on file at the Central Office.
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