Written by Employment Tribunal practice
Good Employment Tribunal case management is not clerical tidiness. It is forensic discipline. A well-managed case is easier for the Tribunal to understand, easier for the parties to prepare, and less likely to collapse into avoidable delay, excessive cost or procedural argument. The practical aim is simple: identify the real issues, give realistic directions, comply with orders, and help the Tribunal deal with the case fairly and justly.
Publication snapshot
- The current procedural foundation is the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024, not the old 2013 Rules schedule.
- The overriding objective requires cases to be dealt with fairly and justly, including equal footing, proportionality, flexibility, avoiding delay and saving expense.
- Good case management begins before the preliminary hearing: agenda, list of issues, time estimate, dates to avoid, disclosure, witnesses, remedy, ADR and compliance history.
- The best representatives and litigants in person make the judge’s task easier: focused issues, realistic estimates, usable documents and disciplined correspondence.
- The practical test is not whether everything has been said. It is whether the Tribunal can identify what must actually be decided.
Why case management matters
Employment Tribunal claims can become procedurally heavy very quickly. A claimant may bring multiple legal labels. A respondent may raise jurisdiction, limitation, status, causation, remedy and evidential points. The Tribunal then has to identify what is legally live, what is factually disputed, what evidence is needed, and how long the case will take.
Poor case management causes avoidable harm. It produces unfocused hearings, part-heard cases, late disclosure disputes, unclear witness evidence, unrealistic timetables and wasted costs. For litigants in person, it can also make the process feel arbitrary because the real procedural problem is hidden inside legal vocabulary.
The practical point: case management is the bridge between the pleaded dispute and a fair hearing. If that bridge is weak, the merits may never be properly reached.
The overriding objective
The current Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 place the overriding objective at Rule 3. The objective is to enable the Tribunal to deal with cases fairly and justly. That includes, so far as practicable, ensuring parties are on an equal footing, dealing with cases proportionately, avoiding unnecessary formality, seeking flexibility, avoiding delay where compatible with proper consideration of the issues, and saving expense.
The point is operational. The overriding objective is not a slogan to add to submissions. It is the organising principle behind applications, timetables, disclosure, preliminary hearings, strike-out questions, deposit orders, postponements, digital case management and the conduct of hearings.
The key distinction
A party does not assist the Tribunal by making every possible point. A party assists the Tribunal by identifying the points that actually matter and proposing directions that allow those points to be decided fairly.
Salter’s practical rules
The draft article draws on Michael Salter’s seminar “How to Win Friends and Influence Judges”. The useful theme is that representatives should treat the tribunal process itself as something to be protected. The representative’s task is not merely to fight. It is to prevent avoidable harm to the process.
That principle can be reduced into three practical disciplines. First, do not injure the process by delay, overload, tactical confusion or avoidable non-compliance. Secondly, obey orders and timetables unless there is a proper basis to seek variation. Thirdly, protect your own credibility by being reliable, proportionate and accurate.
Protect the process
Do not create avoidable procedural damage through late documents, unfocused applications or tactical overreach.
Respect the order
If an order cannot be complied with, apply promptly and explain the practical problem with precision.
Preserve credibility
Reliable estimates, accurate references and clean correspondence build trust with the Tribunal.
Make decisions easier
The best case-management work lets the judge see the issue, the evidence and the order sought quickly.
The case-management agenda
A preliminary hearing should not be approached as a loose discussion. It should be treated as a decision point. The agenda should help the Tribunal identify the claims, issues, directions and hearing structure needed to move the case forward.
Claims and responses
Identify each legal claim and where it appears in the ET1, particulars, ET3 or further information.
Jurisdiction and limitation
Flag time limits, employment status, territorial scope, qualifying service and any preliminary issue.
Disclosure and witnesses
Identify what documents are genuinely needed and how many witnesses are likely to give relevant evidence.
Hearing structure
Give realistic estimates for preliminary issues, liability, remedy, reading time and judgment time.
Resolution options
Consider Acas, judicial mediation, other mediation, early neutral evaluation or settlement directions where appropriate.
Lists of issues
A good list of issues is one of the most useful documents in an Employment Tribunal case. It should not become a second set of pleadings. It should translate the pleadings into the questions the Tribunal must decide.
The best lists are structured by claim. For each claim, they identify the legal test, the factual question, the disputed act or omission, the relevant date, the remedy sought and the paragraph in the ET1 or ET3 where the point arises.
Weak issue list
A long narrative that repeats the case history, adds new allegations and leaves the Tribunal to work out the legal questions.
Stronger issue list
A structured set of questions grouped by legal claim, cross-referenced to pleadings and focused on what must be decided.
Best practical test
Could a judge use the list to run the hearing, control evidence and write the judgment?
Complex claims need extra discipline. Protected disclosure, discrimination, victimisation, reasonable adjustments and whistleblowing detriment claims usually require careful separation of protected act, disclosure, detriment, causation, knowledge, comparator, provision criterion or practice, substantial disadvantage, adjustment and remedy.
Time estimates and hearing shape
Unrealistic time estimates create serious problems. If the estimate is too short, the case may go part-heard, evidence may be rushed, judgment may be reserved unnecessarily, or parties may face avoidable additional cost. If the estimate is too long, scarce Tribunal time may be wasted.
A proper estimate should show the reasoning. It should break down reading time, opening, claimant evidence, respondent evidence, cross-examination, submissions, deliberation, liability, remedy and any preliminary issues. The Tribunal does not need guesswork. It needs a defensible proposal.
Reading time
How large is the bundle, and what must the Tribunal read before evidence begins?
Witness evidence
How many witnesses are needed, and what issues does each witness actually address?
Preliminary issues
Can limitation, status, jurisdiction, strike out or deposit questions be dealt with separately?
Remedy
Is remedy likely to be determined at the same hearing, or should it be reserved?
Avoiding overload
Overloaded pleadings and correspondence damage case management. They make it harder to see the real issues and easier for the opposing party to argue that the case is incoherent. They also increase the risk that the Tribunal will impose clarification directions, strike out weak parts, or require a more focused list of issues.
For claimants, the task is to plead enough factual material to establish the legal claim without turning the ET1 into a witness statement. For respondents, the task is to answer the claim clearly and avoid boilerplate defences that raise legal labels without explaining the factual basis.
For claimants
Do: identify the legal claim, key act, date, person involved, protected characteristic or disclosure, detriment, dismissal, loss and remedy.
For respondents
Do: admit, deny or require proof clearly; identify the positive case; and explain any justification, reason, comparator or limitation point.
For litigants in person
Do: keep a short chronology, issue list and document schedule separate from the emotional history of the dispute.
For representatives
Do: help the Tribunal identify the decision it must make, not every grievance surrounding the employment relationship.
Orders, variation and compliance
Case-management orders matter. Under the current rules, the Tribunal has a general power to make case-management orders, and that power is not limited by the particular powers listed in the Rules. The Tribunal may vary, suspend or set aside an earlier order where necessary in the interests of justice, including where a party affected by the earlier order did not have a reasonable opportunity to make representations.
The practical lesson is clear. A party who cannot comply should not wait silently until the deadline has passed. The better course is to apply promptly, explain the problem, propose a realistic alternative and show how the proposal furthers the overriding objective.
Read the order
Identify exactly what must be done, by whom, and by what date.
Check practical ability
Assess documents, witnesses, availability, disability, representation, translation, technology and disclosure problems early.
Apply before failure
If compliance is unrealistic, apply before the deadline with evidence and a workable replacement timetable.
Keep the record clean
Copy other parties where required and avoid private procedural correspondence unless the rules or an order permit it.
Source anchors
These sources help readers separate current procedure, case-management powers, ADR and early conciliation:
- Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 — current rules, including Rule 3 overriding objective, Rule 4 ADR, Rule 30 case-management orders, Rule 31 applications, Rule 90 copying correspondence, and Rule 91 digital case management.
- Acas: Early conciliation — official explanation of early conciliation, what Acas can and cannot do, and the relationship with Employment Tribunal claims.
- Michael Salter, “How to Win Friends and Influence Judges” — seminar material referenced in the supplied draft and used here as practical commentary rather than primary legal authority.
Closing point
Effective Employment Tribunal case management is a form of advocacy. It shows the Tribunal that the party understands the issues, respects the process and can be trusted to help the case proceed fairly. The strongest representatives and litigants in person are not those who say the most. They are those who make the real decision easier to identify, prepare and determine.
Legal Lens decision support
Preparing for an Employment Tribunal preliminary hearing?
If the case is becoming hard to manage, the answer is usually not a longer narrative. It is a cleaner procedural map: claims, issues, dates, documents, witnesses, orders, risks and the directions needed to move the case forward.
What the assessment can organise
Legal Lens can help turn a broad Employment Tribunal dispute into a practical case-management pack: issue list, chronology, order tracker, disclosure map, preliminary-hearing agenda and realistic time estimate.
Best for
Claimants, respondents or litigants in person preparing for preliminary hearings, case-management orders or issue-list disputes.
What you get
A structured procedural map showing what is live, what is missing, what needs narrowing and what directions may be proportionate.
Practical output
A cleaner route for preparation: focused agenda, issue list, chronology, order tracker, disclosure questions and time estimate.
Independent Legal Lens consultancy. A preliminary assessment is decision support designed to help you organise the documents, issues and next step.