'A great day for Britain's worst bosses': Unions protest at new ‘Victorian’ employment tribunal fees

Protests will be held today as controversial new fees come into force for workers taking cases to employment tribunals.

Frances O'Grady said: "Today is a great day for Britain's worst bosses."

Unions and employment lawyers predicted “chaos” as people will have to pay up to £1,200 to have cases of unfair dismissal and discrimination heard. Unite said it will pay its members’ legal fees while the GMB will stage a protest outside an employment tribunal in central London.

Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, said: “What we are seeing is injustice writ large as this worker-bashing Government takes a sledgehammer to workers’ rights – this is a throwback to Victorian times.” Andy Prendergast, of the GMB, said: “The imposition of such fees represents the latest in a number of attacks on employment rights by the Government.

“The charging of £1,200 effectively means many workers will lose any chance they had to seek redress if they are poorly treated.”

Helen Grant, the courts minister in the Department of Justice, said earlier this month: “It is not fair on the taxpayer to foot the entire £74m bill for people to escalate workplace disputes to a tribunal … That’s why we are encouraging quicker, simpler and cheaper alternatives like mediation.”