Forms and Guidance

 

EARLY CONCILIATION IS COMING TO NORTHERN IRELAND FROM 27 JANUARY 2020

From 27 January 2020, most people who wish to lodge a claim with the Industrial or Fair Employment Tribunal will first have to notify the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) and discuss the option of Early Conciliation.  Potential claimants will not be able to proceed to tribunal without at least considering this option.

Where potential claimants either decide not to avail of Early Conciliation or if the process does not achieve a settlement, an Early Conciliation Certificate will be issued by the LRA. Claimants going on to present a claim to the tribunals must be able to provide the certificate number in order for their claim to proceed.

Tribunal claims usually have to be presented within three or six months of the alleged incident or behaviour, depending on the type of claim.  Early Conciliation allows time (up to a calendar month, with an additional two weeks if needed) for a settlement to be discussed without affecting the deadline for a Tribunal claim.  However, it is still important that potential claimants don’t delay in making the initial Early Conciliation notification to the LRA, otherwise they may find that a future claim cannot be accepted.

For more information about Early Conciliation, and exemptions that apply to it, contact the LRA’s Workplace Information Service on 03300 555 300 or go to the LRA website.

From the 27th January 2020 you will be required to use a new ET1 claim form which you can find below. The current ET3 response form will continue to be used unless the claim has gone through the Early Conciliation process in which case respondents will be required to use the new ET3  form below.

Please note it is your responsibility to ensure that the information you have provided on the form is accurate.

To download the forms, please right click on the link and select 'Save target as..' which will download the forms to your device. Once downloaded, you will require Adobe Reader to open, edit and save the form. To ensure your device uses Adobe Reader to open the form, please see the following guidance:-