Help for victims of vexatious employment claims

According to The Federation of Small Businesses, the growth in vexatious claims by serial litigants is becoming “a real problem for small businesses.”

It adds: “Without a team of specialist lawyers businesses can be an easy target for someone looking to play the system.”

And it has welcomed the launch of a new tool which aims to help employers who are forced to defend themselves against serial litigation.

Employment lawyers Damian McCarthy, Gordon Turner and Hina Belitz have set up the new service – serial-litgants.com - to help companies and their legal teams identify if they are being pursued by a serial litigant. This is achieved by undertaking a nationwide search of the claimant to find out whether have previously won or lost any employment tribunal cases.

McCarthy, Turner and Belitz decided to set up the service after noticing an increase in the number of vexatious claims their clients were being asked to defend.

Cloisters barrister Damian McCarthy said: “Serial litigants often pursue claims with little or no merit which will not succeed in tribunal. The company implicated in the claim, however, has no choice but to defend themselves either through the courts or by settling.

“It is not uncommon for a company to pay what the serial litigant asks even if they know they have done nothing wrong. That’s because if the claimant pitches their settlement request correctly the amount they ask for is less than the cost to the company of defending the claim in court.

“The claimant has little to lose knowing that in 99% of cases no costs are awarded.

“This service will make it easy for lawyers to confirm quickly and cheaply if they are dealing with a vexatious claim.”

The Federation of Small Businesses said: “We welcome this new service which will make it easier for small businesses to work out whether it is likely that the claim they are dealing with is from a serial-litigant or not.”

Solicitor Gordon Turner added: “Whilst it is not our job to pass judgment about the number of cases any litigant has issued or has had to defend we have found that this type of information is invaluable.

“In our experience some serial litigants simply drop their case once confronted with a clear picture of their claims. We hope that by throwing the spotlight on serial litigants like this we might be able stem the increase in this malpractice.

“It’s not just employers who suffer as a result of this kind of abuse of the system. People making genuine claims get held up in a tribunal system which has seen monumental increases in claims over recent years.”

Workplace Law magazine will be examining the growth in serial litigants and what employers can do about it in an upcoming edition.