{"id":40058,"date":"2025-08-18T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intoo.com\/uk\/?p=40058"},"modified":"2025-08-20T11:31:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T11:31:51","slug":"hospitality-and-leisure-employers-face-rising-tribunal-claims-amid-legislative-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intoo.com\/uk\/hospitality-and-leisure-employers-face-rising-tribunal-claims-amid-legislative-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospitality and leisure employers face rising tribunal claims amid legislative changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-87ed0f09cfc8a8584c452467ffc26360\"><strong>Employers in the hospitality and leisure sector are experiencing a higher volume of employment tribunal claims than the national average, with legal experts warning that proposed reforms could drive cases even higher.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>New research from Birketts solicitors shows that businesses in the sector faced an average of 44.53 tribunal claims in the past two years, which is 12% above the average. The figures are drawn from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.birketts.co.uk\/app\/uploads\/2025\/02\/The-Birketts-Employment-tribunals-Impact-Report-2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Birketts View: Employment Tribunals in the Hospitality and Leisure Sector Impact Report 2025<\/a>, which surveyed HR professionals across England and Wales.<\/p>\n<p>The most common type of claim was harassment linked to a protected characteristic, representing 15% of all cases. Ordinary and constructive unfair dismissal claims were less frequent, reflecting the prevalence of short-term and seasonal contracts in the sector.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-risk-set-to-rise-under-employment-rights-bill\">Risk set to rise under Employment Rights Bill<\/h2>\n<p>The proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/hrreview.co.uk\/hr-news\/flexible-working-tops-list-of-challenges-in-employment-rights-bill\/383090\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Employment Rights Bill<\/a> will introduce \u201cday one\u201d rights to claim unfair dismissal, removing the need for a qualifying period of service. Birketts warns this is likely to increase tribunal activity in hospitality and leisure, particularly around harassment and discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hospitality and leisure sector is particularly vulnerable to employment claims due to its reliance on casual and seasonal staff,\u201d said Catherine Johnson, Partner in Birketts\u2019 Employment Team. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe introduction of day one rights under the Employment Rights Bill will likely increase the volume of claims, especially in areas like harassment and discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added that employers should strengthen internal processes, train line managers, and handle grievances effectively to avoid costly disputes. Johnson also noted that <a href=\"https:\/\/hrreview.co.uk\/analysis\/analysis-hr-news\/mike-dolen-how-ai-empowers-managers-to-lead-with-clarity-and-confidence\/383294\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI<\/a> tools are making it easier for employees to draft lengthy and detailed complaints, which can contain legal and factual inaccuracies, urging organisations to develop AI policies to manage this emerging risk.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-grievances-more-likely-to-escalate\">Grievances more likely to escalate<\/h2>\n<p>While hospitality and leisure employers reported fewer grievances overall \u2013 an average of 27.62 in the past two years \u2013 a higher proportion resulted in tribunal claims compared to other sectors. Discrimination was the leading grievance type (24.2%), followed by pay disputes, workload concerns and strained relationships with managers.<\/p>\n<p>The sector also saw fewer disciplinary matters than the national average (28.9 compared to 36.5), but discrimination was again the most common reason for dismissal (17%).<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-settlements-more-frequent-than-hearings\">Settlements more frequent than hearings<\/h2>\n<p>Over 70% of tribunal claims in hospitality and leisure were settled before reaching a final hearing, exceeding the cross-sector average. However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acas.org.uk\/early-conciliation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Acas Early Conciliation<\/a> was used in only 10% of cases, suggesting employers may be missing opportunities to resolve disputes sooner.<\/p>\n<p>The leading reasons for settlement included the time required to manage claims (28%), poor case prospects and reputational risk. On average, HR teams spent 4.32 working weeks dealing with tribunal matters over the two-year period.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-recommendations-for-employers\">Recommendations for employers<\/h2>\n<p>Birketts advises hospitality and leisure businesses to:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Introduce clear workplace policies and maintain open channels of communication with staff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide targeted training for managers on managing grievances, discrimination, and harassment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use early and decisive strategies when claims arise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Prepare for new legal requirements under the Employment Rights Bill, including measures to prevent harassment by third parties.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of the 500 HR directors and managers surveyed, 100 were from the hospitality and leisure sector. Most respondents (467) worked in organisations with more than 1,000 employees, all based in England and Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Employers in the hospitality and leisure sector are experiencing a higher volume of employment tribunal claims than the national average, with legal experts warning that proposed reforms could drive cases even higher. New research from Birketts solicitors shows that businesses in the sector faced an average of 44.53 tribunal claims in the past two years, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":40060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[351,163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feedotter","category-recommended-reading"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hospitality and leisure employers face rising tribunal claims amid legislative changes - INTOO UK &amp; Ireland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hrreview.co.uk\/hr-news\/hospitality-and-leisure-employers-face-rising-tribunal-claims-amid-legislative-changes\/383324\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hospitality and leisure employers face rising tribunal claims amid legislative changes - INTOO UK &amp; Ireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Employers in the hospitality and leisure sector are experiencing a higher volume of employment tribunal claims than the national average, with legal experts warning that proposed reforms could drive cases even higher. 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