Nova Law and Finance
“Goodier and Parkin Employment Tribunals (Sixth Edition) is superb.
Its stated aim is to provide “an accessible and authoritative guide” to employment tribunal procedure. It succeeds entirely.
It is intended for the benefit of both lawyers and lay people involved in employment tribunals. It serves both constituencies extraordinarily well.
The book is both learned and lucid. Its depth, detail and insights will provide value for the most experienced practitioner. At the other end of the scale, it gives a wonderfully informative picture to an unrepresented litigant, extending even to the layout of the tribunal room and how to address the panel. It is unusual in covering many important aspects which are not the subject of rules of procedure – for example skeleton arguments.
The book states the law and practice with great concision and clarity. But there are engaging asides. Indeed, one of the book’s great achievements is to intersperse illuminating comments without detracting from the simplicity of the proposition it has enunciated. On amendment of claims, for example, it notes, with a light touch, the illogicality of the position whereby out of time claims time are more easily included by amendment than by originating process, without obscuring the summary of what the law is. On joint expert reports it flags the “moot point” of whether the tribunal can order an unwilling party to contribute to the cost, without burdening the text with a digression.
The footnotes are well stocked with reported and unreported cases but (for example on sample claims) the authors do not hesitate to set out in the text a long quotation which contains all that need be said. On many topics (for example on submissions of no case to answer) the authors do not attempt to bring together all the discussions in the case-law but distil the essence admirably, with some brief citations.
The prose and layout rise to the challenge of even the most labyrinthine provisions (for example, the rules specifying the stages in an equal value claim and the intricate transitional rules on the abolition of statutory grievance and disciplinary procedures). The authors avoid the kind of diagrams and flow charts which can so easily illuminate the position for the writer whilst baffling the reader. Instead they use simple language, numbered lists and occasional tables, highlighting key concepts in bold. It works.
This is an exceptional book. “
Christopher Jeans QC, 11 King’s Bench Walk
This is a book which makes the bold, and justified, claim to be the complete guide to procedure in the Employment Tribunals. Bearing in mind the original avowed purpose of the Tribunal and the bracing injunction contained in the Rules of Procedure that Tribunals may regulate their own procedure and should seek to avoid formality it is a slightly dispiriting thought that such a book should be needed at all. Yet practitioners and judges know only too well that such a guide is indispensible and have cause to be grateful to Colin Goodier and Jonathan Parkin for their careful research and clear expression in this coherent and comprehensive survey of the subject.
This is a book which ought to find room on the desk of anyone with an employment law practice and on the shelves of Employment Judges. Its organisation of the material is lucid and logical. This is so not only in the ordering of the Chapters but of the text within each section, taking the reader logically through a topic and providing very helpful cross referencing and signposting which is clear evidence of the deep knowledge and expertise of the authors.
Of particular note are the Chapters on Insolvency, Compensation and Conciliation, Mediation and Settlement. The former two deal with areas replete with pitfalls, in a manner calculated to instil confidence in the reader. The latter covers the crucial area of compromise agreements and deals with judicial mediation. Since both authors are trained mediators this is of particular value.
I have turned almost daily to the 5th edition of this book and am delighted to see a new edition.
Philip Rostant, Employment Judge
I have been an HR professional for forty years, both as an HR Director and independent Consultant. In that time I have received many ET claims and directly participated in some twenty Tribunals. I have only one really useful thing to say about this book – “Buy it!” It’s a complete ‘no-brainer’.
When I first became involved many years ago, Tribunal hearings rarely lasted for more than a day and both the law and the processes were easy to understand. The huge increase in the complexity of the law has changed all that. How does a working HR professional keep abreast of ET procedures? The answer now is that you go to Colin Goodier and Jonathan Parkin’s book. I wish I had had it years ago!
You may never need to read it all, but the sections that are relevant to you will be absolutely invaluable. They will enable you not only to have informed debates with your lawyer but to brief your own management with confidence and authority.
You’d expect it to be comprehensive, which it is. But amazingly for such a technical subject, it’s also an easy read. It will have paid for itself by the time you have handled your next ET claim.
Graham Darbyshire MA MCIPD, Darbyshire Consulting Limited
The authors have managed to produce a book which presents complex legal processes in a readily readable and easily understood style. The book demonstrates why the original concept of Employment Tribunals, a simple forum for the determination of employment disputes, is but a memory in the minds of those practitioners who recall the days when informality and an absence of case law prevailed. Anyone who believes that the Employment Tribunal provides a forum where the unrepresented are on an equal footing with those using skilled employment law practitioners is well advised to read this book.
The content of the book is well structured. The chapters flow from one subject area to another and there is a natural progression in terms of the process. Whilst describing each part of the process with sufficient detail to be used as an informative aide-memoir to employment law practitioners, the book uses language which enables less familiar or one off users of the Employment Tribunal to understand how the system works from initial presentation of the claim, through the conciliation and judicial determination stages ending with the enforcement of awards. The chapter on the calculation of tribunal awards is particularly useful to those seeking to draw up a schedule of loss in respect of their claim or the claim against them.
Although a legal textbook, the authors have allowed an element of their personal views, drawn from their experience as Judges, to permeate the content. There are a number of particularly useful insights which will enable those attending the employment tribunal to understand what they should and should not do to avoid damaging their own case.
Malcolm Boswell, Director, ACAS West Midlands
Employment tribunals started life as industrial tribunals under the Industrial Training Act 1964. By comparison with today, employment matters were then relatively straightforward and the tribunals provided a ready and economical means of dealing with employment disputes. The intervening years have seen a mushrooming of employment law, much emanating from the EU and most of this has been designed to give protected rights to employees according to their circumstances. Those who are in practice as employment lawyers and many HR professionals will be fully up to speed with the latest state of the legislation and practice, despite its volume, but there will be many in HR departments who rarely become involved in employment tribunal cases and for whom the arrival of an issue can be very daunting.
This book meets the needs of both groups. It is clearly written, well laid out, distinctly signposted and annotated with a multitude of explanatory footnotes and case references. The work is comprehensive and authoritative and it will be of immense help to busy lawyers, representatives and HR departments who may have an involvement with employment tribunals, whether often or infrequently.
Peter Maskell
Chief Executive, BHSF Group Limited
