Employment Tribunals Service
www.employmenttribunals.gov.uk

The official site of the employment tribunals service offers you crucial information. It tells you about the entire claims process, right from filling in the form to the final hearing. Here you can find the rules that govern employment tribunal procedures; making claims, responding to claims and what to expect at the hearing. There is an alphabetical list of tribunal offices and details are also available about facilities offered to anyone attending a tribunal with a disability.

Employment Appeal Tribunal
www.employmentappeals.gov.uk

After you have gone through the entire process of filing a claim against your employer and taking part in the hearing, you may still be shocked by the decision of the Employment Tribunal. All is not lost. You can get a second chance by approaching the Employment Appeal Tribunal. As the name implies, the Employment Appeal Tribunal hears appeals from decisions made by Employment Tribunals. The hearings are conducted by a judge alone or along with two lay members.

ACAS
www.acas.org.uk

Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) is an independent mediation and conciliation service whose main objective is to improve employment relations, thus ensuring a better work atmosphere for everyone. It is quite effective in resolving disputes between employers and employees, thus saving the time and expense involved in settling them through a hearing in the Employment Tribunal. ACAS can provide an independent mediator who can help resolve your dispute with your employer. ACAS also offers conciliation services to help find a solution that both sides find acceptable instead of approaching the Employment Tribunal.

workSMART
www.worksmart.org.uk

workSMART is operated by Trade Union Congress (TUC), which is an umbrella body of the trade unions of the UK. The website has an extensive section on your rights at work, related to pay and contracts of employment, termination of employment, rules and regulations related to work, discrimination and harassment, trouble at work, working hours and leave and enforcing your rights. These rights enable you to know where exactly you stand in a dispute with the employer. There is a very useful technical jargon buster as well as a searchable ‘employment rights’ database for common terms and questions.

Equality and Human Rights Commission
www.equalityhumanrights.com

The Equality and Human Rights Commission works to remove discrimination in terms of race, gender, age, disability, religion or belief and sexual orientation, and ensure equal opportunities for everyone in organisations. If you are a victim of such discrimination, you can call the commission’s help line for free advice. To enforce its agenda, the Commission has enormous legal powers along with a dedicated team of lawyers who are specialists in equality law. It gives direct legal assistance in deserving cases and is fully equipped to take legal action on behalf of individuals, including launching official enquiries and taking up formal investigations.

Advice Guide
www.adviceguide.org.uk

This is the online service of Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) which offers independent advice and practical information about your rights. There is a separate section on your rights related to discrimination of all types such as sex, sexual orientation, sexual harassment, religious beliefs, disability and age. There is also an elaborate introduction to the legal system of England. You get practical information about basic rights at work, oversees workers in the UK, rights to pay, parental right to work, maternity leave, dismissal and benefits, redundancy, holidays and holiday pay, contract of employment, workplace monitoring by employer and disciplinary action against employees.

Community Legal Advice
www.clsdirect.org.uk

Community Legal Advice offers free, independent and confidential legal advice paid for by legal aid. The website has a comprehensive section on employment-related issues and your legal rights related to charities, contracts and conditions of employment, hours of work, part-time work, discrimination, redundancy and dismissal, employees rights, health and safety at work, pay, pensions, trade unions and industrial relations, unemployment and voluntary work and so on. There is a downloadable booklet published by the Legal Services Commission that explains your legal rights while at work. It explains the dos and don’ts that an employer should observe in relation to you and how they should behave toward you while at work.

Directgov
www.direct.gov.uk

This is the official website of the UK government for citizens giving access to a variety of public services and information needed by them. The section related to employment is quite vast, including such topics as employment terms and conditions (pay, working hours, holidays, etc), resolving workplace disputes (disciplinary procedures, mediation, arbitration, conciliation, etc.), work and families (workplace rights related to pregnancy, maternity and adoption), redundancy and leaving your job (resigning from the job, unfair dismissal, etc.), discrimination related to sex, disability and age, bullying at workplace, etc.) and health and safety issues (such as becoming disabled at work).

TIGER (Tailored Interactive Guidance on Employment Rights)
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/index.htm