This flow chart shows the structure of the court system in England Wales
as far as it relates to Employment Law.
Most cases will be brought in the employment tribunal
and there is a list set out in chapter one of my book Selwyn’s Law of Employement
that tells you the jurisdiction of the tribunal that means the kinds of claims
that can be brought in it so these include cases such as unfair dismissal, unpaid wages,
equal pay, discrimination in employment, redundancy pay, etcetera
and you can see the full list in chapter one of the book.
An appeal could be brought on a point of law only from the employment tribunal
to the employment appeal tribunal and from there on a point of law only
to the court of appeal and from there to the Supreme Court
which until 2009 that would have been to the House of Lords.
There are some cases in the employment stair such as contractual claims
that can be brought in the civil courts which have a much longer period for bringing a claim.
If that claim is the less than twenty five thousand pounds then it can be brought in the county court.
And an appeal from there on a point of law goes to the court of appeal and then the Supreme Court.
Some higher value cases for example cases relating to the notice pay
or bonuses of bankers are brought in the High Court
rather than the employment tribunal or the county court,
because the high court could award a much larger amount of damages.
An appeal from the High Court goes to the court of appeal and from there to the Supreme Court.
There are some cases relating to employment law that are prosecuted in the criminal courts
rather than the civil courts and these are largely prosecutions
in relation to matters such as health and safety, working time,
or minimum wage and these are started in the magistrate's court.
They could either be heard as a full trial in the magistrate's court
or depending on the seriousness can be transferred to the Crown Court.
And also an appeal from the magistrate’s court can be a full rehearing in the Crown Court.
An appeal on a point of law only goes from the Crown Court
to the court of appeal and from that to the Supreme Court.
There's also the possibility of a judicial review from the magistrate’s court
or the Crown Court to the High Court but that's outside the scope of this book.
Now in the past when the UK was a member of the European Union
any court could make reference to the court of justice of the European Union,
the CJEU you also known as the European Court of justice or the ECJ
if it was necessary for that domestic court to make a reference in order to make a decision.
This is now no longer an option but the rulings made up to the date of the leaving the EU
by the ECJ are still parts of UK law, unless they are specifically repealed.
At the European Court of human rights is another court has a bearing on domestic law,
this has nothing to do with the EU, the European Union.
It was setup by the council of Europe which is a totally separate body.
An employee cannot lodge a claim in a tribunal based directly on a European Convention of Human Rights
right but it can bring a direct claim
on the convention right against a public body in the European Court of Human Rights
and the decision of this court must be taken into account by the domestic courts.
So that concludes an overview of the court system
and further detail can be found in my book mostly in chapters one and twenty.