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Challenging an Employment Tribunal decision

If you want to try to change an Employment Tribunal judgment, decision, direction or order you can:

• ask the Employment Tribunal that heard your case to review it
• make an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal

Asking for an Employment Tribunal review

If you want to ask the Employment Tribunal to review a decision, you need to apply in writing stating why you think the judgment should be reviewed. You should do this within 14 days of the date the judgment was sent to you by the Employment Tribunal office.

Decisions can only be reviewed if:

• they were wrongly made as a result of an administrative error
• you did not receive notice of the proceedings leading to the decision
• the decision was made in the absence of either you or the respondent (the person you claimed against)
• new evidence has become available since the conclusion of the hearing
• the interests of justice require such a review

Send your application to the Employment Tribunal office where you hearing was held.

Differences to this process if you receive a ‘default judgment’

Default judgments are given when respondents do not respond (reply) to a claim, or if they make a response that is not accepted by the Employment Tribunal. If you received a default judgment, you can ask the Employment Tribunal to review its own judgment. You will need to:

• apply to the Employment Tribunal in writing within 14 days of the date the judgment was sent by the Tribunal office
• say why you think the default judgment should be changed or withdrawn

The Employment Tribunal can refuse to review the default judgment, or it can confirm it, change it or withdraw it. You should bear in mind that making an application for a review doesn’t affect the time limit for making an appeal – so you can appeal while still waiting for the review result.

In some circumstances you may be able to appear at a hearing to fix a remedy after a default judgment has been made.

Making an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)

To make an appeal, rather than ask for a review, you will need to lodge (send in) a ‘Notice of Appeal’ (EAT form 1). You should check below to make sure you can appeal in your particular circumstances and that you are within the time limits.

How to check whether you can appeal

You can only appeal on a ‘point of law’ – this means how the law was interpreted and applied to your case. The grounds (reasons) for your appeal need to be one of the following:

• the Employment Tribunal has made a mistake in how it applied the law
• the judgment was one which no reasonable Employment Tribunal could have reached

Your Notice of Appeal won’t be accepted unless you give the full details of the points you are making in support of your appeal and apply within the time limits.

Time limits

There are strict time limits for making an appeal. If your judgment, decision, direction, or order:

• contains written reasons, you must appeal within 42 days of the date on which the judgment was sent to you
• does not contain written reasons, you should request them from the Employment Tribunal within 14 days of the date on which the judgment was sent - you must then appeal within 42 days of the date on which the written reasons are sent to you
• does not contain written reasons and you don’t request them within 14 days, you must appeal within 42 days of the date on which the judgment was sent to you, but also give an explanation of why you haven’t got the written reasons
• does not contain written reasons but the Employment Tribunal ‘reserved’ its reasons, for example, said that they would be sent at a later date, you must appeal within 42 days of the date the reasons are sent to you

Note that reasons may not be given for some types of decision, if in doubt you should check with the Employment Tribunal where your case was heard.

You need to lodge (and it must have been received) your Notice of Appeal with any accompanying documents by 4.00 pm on the 42nd day at the latest. If you are sending it by post, you should allow time for any postal delays. Time runs from the date the Employment Tribunal judgment, decision, direction, reason or order was sent out. This is given on an official stamp, normally found on the last page of the document.

If you have made an application for review, this doesn’t change or extend the 42-day time limit for appealing. You can appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal at the same time as asking the Employment Tribunal for a review. However, you must include a copy of your application for review with what you send to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Alternatively, you should include a copy of the review judgment, if you have already received it.

Lodging your appeal with the Employment Appeal Tribunal

You can get a Notice of Appeal form from any Employment Appeal Tribunal office – contact details are provided below. You can also print one yourself by following the link below.

You must fully complete the Notice of Appeal form including section 7 where you must explain why you think the Employment Tribunal decision was incorrect.

Along with your Notice of Appeal form, you need to include:

• a copy of your original claim form (ET1)
• any response (ET3)
• the judgment and the written reasons for the judgment (or an explanation as to why any of these aren’t included)

These documents must then be sent or delivered to either the London or Edinburgh address given below.

• Notice of appeal form (PDF, 80K) Opens new window

• Help with PDF files

Contact details for EAT office in England and Wales

Contact the London office for appeals relating to decisions in England and Wales:

EAT London, Second Floor, Fleetbank House, 2-6 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8JX
Telephone: 020 7273 1041
Fax: 020 7273 1045
Email: londoneat@tribunals.gsi.gov.uk

• Travel information and map for the London office (PDF, 524K) Opens new window

• Help with PDF files

Contact details for EAT office in Scotland

Contact the Edinburgh office for appeals relating to decisions in Scotland:

EAT Edinburgh, 52 Melville Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7HF
Telephone: 0131 225 3963
Fax: 0131 220 6694
Email: edinburgheat@tribunals.gsi.gov.uk

• Travel information and map for the Edinburgh office (PDF, 56K) Opens new window

If you have any questions about the appeal, you should send them to ‘The Registrar’ at one of the above addresses.

What happens next

The Employment Appeal Tribunal will send you an acknowledgement letter.

If you haven’t had this within seven days of posting your Notice of Appeal, contact them to check they received it, using the details above.

More useful links

• Challenging the Employment Tribunal judgment - find out more Opens new window

• Help with PDF files

• Advice from Business Link for employers about handling Employment Tribunal claims Opens new window