An employer's group says personal grievance claims are up 11% – a trend it blames on "ambulance chasing" rather than increased offending.The Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) bases the figure on its annual analysis of Emp
An employer’s group says personal grievance claims are up 11% – a trend it blames on "ambulance chasing" rather than increased offending.
The Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) bases the figure on its annual analysis of Employment Relations Authority decisions.
The EMA says the increase on 2008 is despite no change in the proportion based on redundancy and the recession.
“Our analysis shows claims for unjustified disadvantage rose 26% and were the main reason for the increase,” says David Lowe, EMA’s employment services manager.
“Unjustified disadvantage is an easier claim for employees to win, and its often used when an employee cannot hope to be successful with a dismissal claim, or as part of a challenge to a lesser matter like a warning or pay rise.”
The EMA’s figures show the average award in 2009 for an employee’s hurt feelings was $5204 and the average cost for an employer to successfully defend a personal grievance claim was $9617.
“The average total cost to an employer when they lost a personal grievance claim was $33,406, though employers chances of winning their cases improved marginally overall from 33 to 41%,” Mr Lowe says.
He also says it is more common to see the US-style practice of “ambulance chasers” hanging the prospect of a $10,000 bill over the head of small employers then agree to take it away for, say, $3000.
“These bounty hunters don’t charge their clients but instead take a large slice of any money paid,” he says. “We want this ‘no win no fee’ practice banned. Employers are paying thousands of dollars as ‘go away money’ for meritless claims because they can’t afford the risk or the cost of a court case.”
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