Industrial Tribunals
Online Services
Online services allows you to make a claim or respond to a claim to the Industrial Tribunals and/or The Fair Employment Tribunal for Northern Ireland. You must register with the site in order to use these services.
A claim form, ET1(NI), is also available in PDF for downloading - see Publications.
This page also provides information on the weekly hearing schedule of the Industrial Tribunals and The Fair Employment Tribunal and the main decisions of these tribunals which have been issued since January 2007.
A claim form, ET1(NI), is also available in PDF for downloading - see Publications.
This page also provides information on the weekly hearing schedule of the Industrial Tribunals and The Fair Employment Tribunal and the main decisions of these tribunals which have been issued since January 2007.
Information for claimants and respondents
Conciliation
In most cases copies of relevant documents are sent to the Labour Relations Agency (LRA), who will try to assist the parties to reach a settlement. Information given to the conciliation officer is confidential and cannot be used in evidence at the hearing without the consent of the party who gave the information to the conciliation officer, there is no charge for this service. If you think that a conciliation officer can help even though a claim has not yet been made, you should contact the LRA, If you decide to contact the LRA, you should remember that there are time limits for making/ responding to a claim to a tribunal.
How to involve the Labour Relations Agency (LRA).
What is a fixed period for conciliation?
A letter will be sent to tell you if the claim has been given a fixed period for conciliation by the LRA and when that period ends. The length of this period depends on the nature of the complaint that the claimant is asking the tribunal to decide on.
If a fixed period of conciliation does not apply to the claim, you can use the services of the LRA until the matter is resolved or the tribunal issues a judgment.
If a fixed period for conciliation does apply to the claim, you will have that time to use the services of the LRA to reach an agreed settlement of the claim without the need for a hearing.
If a settlement is not reached during this fixed period, the claim will be heard by the tribunal as soon as possible after the period has ended.
If either party does not want to negotiate a settlement with the LRA, they can write to the LRA and let them know. The fixed period of conciliation will end when they receive the letter and the case will be heard in due course.
Joinder / Dismissal
Sometimes a claimant will seek a remedy against a person (or other body) who is not the respondent named in their claim. In such cases, either on request or on their own initiative, the Tribunal may order that such a person (or other body) be joined as a party to the proceedings and, where necessary, dismiss the person or body named in the claim from the proceedings.
If the case settles
If your case settles before the hearing, you should let us know immediately. If your case is settled using the LRA, the conciliation officer will let us know.
Special Needs
If you (or a person required to attend a tribunal) have particular needs because of a disability, you should advise the Office of the Tribunals, so that we can provide any assistance which you may require. Examples of the help that we can provide include, converting documents to Braille and arrangement/ payment for sign language interpreters.
Where a particular need is identified this should be notified to the Office of the Tribunals at the earliest possible date.
Interpreters
If you (or a person required to attend a tribunal) have problems communicating with the tribunals in English, you should advise the Office of the Tribunals who can arrange for an interpreter to be present at hearing, if appropriate. You should correspond with the Office of the Tribunals in English.
In most cases copies of relevant documents are sent to the Labour Relations Agency (LRA), who will try to assist the parties to reach a settlement. Information given to the conciliation officer is confidential and cannot be used in evidence at the hearing without the consent of the party who gave the information to the conciliation officer, there is no charge for this service. If you think that a conciliation officer can help even though a claim has not yet been made, you should contact the LRA, If you decide to contact the LRA, you should remember that there are time limits for making/ responding to a claim to a tribunal.
How to involve the Labour Relations Agency (LRA).
What is a fixed period for conciliation?
A letter will be sent to tell you if the claim has been given a fixed period for conciliation by the LRA and when that period ends. The length of this period depends on the nature of the complaint that the claimant is asking the tribunal to decide on.
If a fixed period of conciliation does not apply to the claim, you can use the services of the LRA until the matter is resolved or the tribunal issues a judgment.
If a fixed period for conciliation does apply to the claim, you will have that time to use the services of the LRA to reach an agreed settlement of the claim without the need for a hearing.
If a settlement is not reached during this fixed period, the claim will be heard by the tribunal as soon as possible after the period has ended.
If either party does not want to negotiate a settlement with the LRA, they can write to the LRA and let them know. The fixed period of conciliation will end when they receive the letter and the case will be heard in due course.
Joinder / Dismissal
Sometimes a claimant will seek a remedy against a person (or other body) who is not the respondent named in their claim. In such cases, either on request or on their own initiative, the Tribunal may order that such a person (or other body) be joined as a party to the proceedings and, where necessary, dismiss the person or body named in the claim from the proceedings.
If the case settles
If your case settles before the hearing, you should let us know immediately. If your case is settled using the LRA, the conciliation officer will let us know.
Special Needs
If you (or a person required to attend a tribunal) have particular needs because of a disability, you should advise the Office of the Tribunals, so that we can provide any assistance which you may require. Examples of the help that we can provide include, converting documents to Braille and arrangement/ payment for sign language interpreters.
Where a particular need is identified this should be notified to the Office of the Tribunals at the earliest possible date.
Interpreters
If you (or a person required to attend a tribunal) have problems communicating with the tribunals in English, you should advise the Office of the Tribunals who can arrange for an interpreter to be present at hearing, if appropriate. You should correspond with the Office of the Tribunals in English.
