A recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) by training provider DeltaNet, asking for Employment Tribunal data going back over the last five years, has yielded insight into what workers are most likely to take their employer to tribunal over.

The number one claim was in relation to the Working Time Directive, with disgruntled employees claiming they are forced to work excessive long hours at detriment to their health and wellbeing and in breach of the law.

Under The Working Time Directive, a UK employee may not work more than 48 hours per week (on average, usually taken over a 17-week period) unless there are mitigating circumstances. In just one year (2019/2020), 26,498 employees felt they were overworked without due cause.

Looking at the data as a whole across a five-year period the top five claims were:

1. Working Time Directive (160,299 cases)

2. Equal pay (115,359 cases)

3. Unauthorised deductions (formerly wages act) (114,520 cases)

4. Unfair dismissal (86,009 cases)

5. Breach of contract (58,415 cases)

There has been a 25% increase in the total number of claims brought against employers, a statistic that might imply organisations aren't doing enough to comply with the law and protect their employees.

DeltaNet analysed the top claims over the last five years in terms of percentage increase (rather than how many cases filed) – the results were largely discrimination-based:

1. Sexual orientation discrimination (up 165%)

2. Disability discrimination (up 133%)

3. Religion or belief discrimination (up 130%)

4. Written pay statement (up 109%)

5. Public interest disclosure (up 98%)

The number of age discrimination cases fell by 80% over the same five-year period and dropped by 3% in 2019/2020 compared to the previous year.

Not all claims filed are successful at Tribunal. The claim with the highest success rate was redundancy cases, in which almost half of all cases (48%) were successful.

Over the last five years, equal pay claims have increased by 181% and sex discrimination claims by 150%. Unauthorised deductions cases (where an employee has been unpaid or underpaid wages) increased by 114%.

A third of discrimination cases related to age, disability, or pregnancy were resolved through an ACAS conciliated settlement – a process usually involving mediation and eventual agreement between employer/employee.

It's important, as business owners, to train managers in your organisation to handle these processes fairly and to deal with grievances in a reasonable and respectful manner, always in line with employment law.