New employment tribunal statistics  

Recent statistics from the Employment Tribunal Service show that the number of claims increased by 40% from 132,600 in 2006/7 to 189,300 in 2007/8.   The most popular claims were Equal Pay and Working Time claims.  Unfair dismissal was the third most popular complaint.  For the first time the statistics also include claims for discrimination based on religion and belief and sexual orientation.   Employers have urged the government to overhaul the current system which does little to prevent frivolous claims from clogging up the system and to root out serial litigators who are abusing the system.