Chris Bryden & Michael Salter welcome the introduction of a searchable database of tribunal judgments
- Launch of online tribunal decision database is a welcome modernising step.
- However, there are some potential difficulties.
Unlike the County and Family Courts at first instance, which have for some time had neutral citation references (EWCC and EWFC respectively) and as a result have had an increasing number of judgments archived on BAILII to provide assistance to practitioners, first instance decisions of Employment Tribunals have been much harder to come by. However, recently the Ministry of Justice launched a website which contains Employment Tribunal judgments. Until its launch the only way to obtain a tribunal judgment was to contact Bury St. Edmunds or Glasgow, pay a fee and obtain the judgment. As a result of this initiative, tribunal decisions (which, unlike County or Family Courts, are often typed up in any event, thus forming a valuable resource) are now available instantly, easily, and without charge.
Pros
Of course, the legal impact of tribunal judgments is limited; as the decision of a first instance tribunal they are of persuasive impact
