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Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Case Management Discussion

A hearing in which the Tribunal manages procedural and administrative matters in the dispute between the parties and manages how the case will proceed in order to ensure it will be dealt with as swiftly as possible. It does not decide any legal issue in dispute between the parties.

Case Stated

The process whereby a point of law is referred to the Court of Appeal for Northern Ireland from a Tribunal.

Compromise Agreement

This might be also referred to as a settlement, or settlement agreement: An agreement made by the Claimant and the Respondent that brings the Claimant’s case to an end, and means that the claim cannot be re-started. A definition is provided in the relevant legislation.

Conciliation Period

The period of time set aside to allow the parties to agree a settlement, a period overseen by the Labour Relations Agency (LRA). The LRA has a statutory remit to attempt to seek the resolution of most infringements of individual employment rights, without the need for an Industrial Tribunal or Fair Employment Tribunal hearing. In all such cases the LRA Officers help both parties in an impartial and independent way. They do not act as a representative of either party. It is the responsibility of the LRA officer to help both parties become aware of the options open to them and enable them to reach informed decisions on how best to proceed.

Conciliated Agreement

A legally binding agreement, faciliated through the Individual Conciliation service of the Labour Relations Agency, between an employer and employee to settle an exisiting or potental claim to the Industrial or Fair Employment Tribunal. As with a Compromise Agreement, the employee agrees to ‘settle-out-of-court’ by accepting the financial, or other, compensation that the employer is offering in return for signing away their right to pursue their claim.

Counter-Claim

A claim made by the Respondent against the Claimant in response to the claim alleging that the Claimant broke some legal duty owed to the Respondent.

Cost Orders

An order of the Tribunal requiring one party to pay some or all of the legal costs of the other party or costs incurred by the Department in relation to witness allowances or expenses. (See also Preparation Time Orders).

Cross-examination

This is when a witness is asked questions by the party which did not call him or her as a witness. It follows immediately after the Evidence in Chief.

Deposit

The Tribunal may require the Claimant to make a deposit of £500 to the OITFET before it will allow the Claimant’s case to proceed beyond a certain stage because it does not consider that the case has reasonable prospects of success.

Default Judgement

A judgement of the Tribunal made when the Respondent is not a party to the case, usually because the Respondent has failed to file his or her response in time. Such judgements may be reviewed at the request of either party.

Evidence in Chief

This term describes the evidence given by a witness by way of witness statement or as a result of questions from the party that called him or her.

ET1

The form submitted by a Claimant to a Tribunal to commence his/her claim.

ET3

The form used by the Respondent when responding to the claim made in the Claimant’s ET1.

Interim Relief

An order of the Tribunal granting the Claimant short-term relief from the Respondent’s decision until a specified date or until the claim is dealt with.

No Case to Answer

An application by the Respondent, at the conclusion of the Claimant’s case, asking the Tribunal to rule that the Claimant has not raised a prima facie case that it should answer and therefore that the claim should be dismissed.

Notice for Additional Information

A notice directed by one party to the other, requiring the latter to furnish further detail and information about its case to the party issuing the Notice. (See also Notice for Further and Better Particulars).

Notice for Discovery

A document directed to the other party requiring it to provide certain documents related to the case to the party issuing the notice, as well as any other documents in their possession that might touch upon the issues in the case. A Tribunal can be asked to provide an Order for Discovery if the notice is not complied with.

Notice for Further and Better Particulars (or Notice for Additional Information)

A document directed to the other party requiring it to provide further detail relating to its claim, or its response, as the case may be. A Tribunal can be asked to make an Order for further and better particulars if the Notice is not complied with. (See also Notice for Additional Information).

Notice of Appearance

The document filed by or on behalf of the Respondent indicating that s/he is responding to the claim. It is usually issued by the Respondent’s legal representatives.

Pre-Hearing Review

A hearing convened to deal with some preliminary legal point(s) that have to be concluded before the case can proceed to a full hearing.

Preparation Time Order

Where a party is not legally represented the Tribunal can, instead of ordering the other party to pay some or all of its legal costs, order it to pay the costs in respect of the preparation time of the party.

prima facie

Latin term used to express the idea that someone has a plausible case or one which appears at first glance to have some validity.

Protective Proceedings

A colloquial term used to describe a claim made to a Tribunal before the expiry of a claimant’s time limit thereby protecting the claimant’s right to proceed with the case pending the resolution of other proceedings.

Questionnaire Procedure

A Claimant can address written questions to the Respondent about his or her claim at an early stage of the case. The Respondent is not obliged to answer but any failure to do so can result in the Tribunal drawing adverse or negative conclusions from the refusal to answer. (Also known as the Statutory Questionnaire Procedure).

Restricted Reporting Orders

These orders can be made by the Tribunal in cases involving allegations of sexual misconduct or disability discrimination cases where evidence is of a personal nature and limit the extent to which the media and others can report the details of the case.

Review Hearing

A hearing at which the Tribunal is asked to reconsider a decision it has made, which decision can be about, for example, not accepting a claim, or a response, or about deciding an issue in the case, such as the liability of one of the parties. It is a form of internal appeal not to be confused with a default judgement review hearing.

Schedule of Loss

Document setting out the financial loss sustained by the Claimant. This sets out the loss sustained from the date of the latest discriminatory incident until the hearing. The Claimant has a duty to mitigate his or her loss.

Statement of Facts and Issues

A document setting out the factual and legal issues that the Tribunal must decide in the course of hearing the claim. It will have been finalised at the Case Management Discussion by the Tribunal, in consultation with the parties, having initially been drawn up by them.

Stayed

A claim is stayed by the Tribunal, at the request of one of the parties, or by agreement between them, and this puts it ‘on hold’ until some particular event happens. The usual reason for staying a claim is to allow a settlement to be implemented.

Strike Out

A Tribunal may bring a claim to a definitive end by ordering that it be struck out. This can be done if, for example, a party has failed to comply with an order of the Tribunal. This means that the claim cannot be made again.

Supplementary Statement

An additional witness statement made by a witness usually in response to matters raised in another’s witness statement and not dealt with in the witness’ original statement.

Tribunal Rules

Rules of Procedure for Industrial and Fair Employment Tribunals set out in law. Rules for ITs are Industrial Tribunal (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005, and for FETs are Fair Employment Tribunal (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005.

Unless Order

A colloquial term to describe an order made by the Tribunal which will result in the striking out of a party’s claim or response (as the case may be) unless it is complied with.

Wasted Costs Order

An order made by the Tribunal against the legal representatives of a party to the proceedings were the Tribunal considers that the legal representative has behaved negligently or unreasonably. This order makes the legal representative personally liable.

Without Prejudice

A phrase used by lawyers to prevent the content of pre-hearing negotiations from being mentioned in the course of the Tribunal proceedings.

Witness Order

An order of the Tribunal requiring the attendance of a particular witness. Failure to attend is punishable on conviction by a fine.

Witness Statements

These are signed documents containing the evidence that a witness intends to give to the Tribunal for the purpose of the hearing. These statements are drafted and signed prior to the hearing and then formally adopted by the witness at the hearing.