Hotels set to stage dismissal hearings

Hotels will start hosting unfair dismissal hearings from as early as next spring under an arbitration scheme devised as a quicker, cheaper alternative to employment tribunals.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) said hotel rooms would provide convenient, neutral venues close to the disputing parties.

Initially, they will be used only for unfair dismissal cases, which represent 40% of employment litigation, but could be used for other hearings in the future.

Those opting for the new system will be barred from going to employment tribunals, where cases can typically cost between £1,000 and £2,000.

Pilot hearings have been delayed since 1998, most recently because the Department of Trade and Industry has been assessing the implications of the new Human Rights Act.

Acas said employment litigation for the year ended 31 May soared by 27% to 167,354 cases.

Most disputes fail to reach a tribunal hearing and are settled out of court or withdrawn.

Two years ago, restaurant workers Ali Kiliclilar and Joseph Szabo, who claimed that the London-based Original Bagels'n'Subs company had dismissed them unfairly in 1995, settled their case out of court because the tribunal hearings were dragging on too long (Caterer, 12 November 1998, page 7).

by Angela Frewin