Where an employment tribunal has jurisdiction it will normally be "exclusive jurisdiction" in the sense that the ordinary courts will not have jurisdiction over the same matters (ERA 1996 s.205 and see also Unfair dismissal/Employment Tribunals jurisdiction ). A full list of the types of case in which Employment Tribunals have jurisdiction is published on the ET service website. Some of the main types are:

(i) Unfair dismissal complaints.
(ii) Claims to statutory redundancy pay .
(iii) Racial discrimination claims.
(iv) Sex discrimination claims
(v) Disability discrimination claims.
(vi) Claims re unauthorised deductions from wages etc .
(vii) TUPE complaints (see Transfer of business or undertaking/a general introductory note ).

Employment Tribunals also have jurisdiction to deal with trade union related matters directly affecting individual employment rights but not with mainstream trade union and industrial relations matters, the legal aspects of which are dealt with by the ordinary courts (and are beyond the scope of this program).

Employment Tribunals have jurisdiction only in so far as it is specifically given to them by Parliament. If a case in which employment tribunals have exclusive jurisdiction is incorrectly started in a court, the court will transfer it to a tribunal (see Procedure of Employment Tribunals/2004 rules/rule 59 - transfer of proceedings from a court ).

Until 1994 their jurisdiction in respect of individual employment rights was restricted to rights arising under specific statutes. In July 1994 their jurisdiction was extended to cover certain common law breach of contract claims in the employment field (see Employment tribunals/jurisdiction of/extension to breach of contract cases ).

Geographical Jurisdiction

As a general rule employment tribunals have jurisdiction to deal with cases only if at least one respondent, normally the employer, resides or carries on business in England and Wales or Scotland or if the proceedings relate to employment performed in Britain (Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2004, SI 2004/1861 reg 19). For notes on geographical jurisdiction within Britain, see Employment tribunals/England, Wales and Scotland .

The position in regard to the territorial jurisdiction of employment tribunals can be difficult to determine in borderline cases where employees are working overseas. If the claim is a statutory claim such as for unfair dismissal an employment tribunal will generally have jurisdiction only if the employee is based in the UK, which itself is not always easy to determine (see Lawson v Serco HL 2006 UKHL 3). However if the British rules under which the claim is made are British implementation of an EU law which has direct effect (for example the Working Time Regulations) then those British rules must be extended to give effect to those EU rights and thus the rule in Lawson v Serco (above) would not apply (see Bleuse v MBT Transport Ltd and anor EAT 2007 on 21st December 2007, reported at [2008] IRLR 264and notes at European Law/direct applicability of EC or EU measures ).

See also Unfair dismissal/Employment Tribunals jurisdiction and/or Unfair dismissal/employments not having unfair dismissal rights/work ordinarily outside Gt Britain .

For notes on application of European law by Employment Tribunals see European law/jurisdiction of Employment Tribunals and Procedure of Employment Tribunals/2004 rules/rule 58 - references to the European Court of Justice .