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If you are an employee looking to make a claim against your employer for unfair dismissal or redundancy, you would take your action to the Employment Tribunal. This is a specialist Court that deals with all employment matters (excluding wrongful dismissal claims). This article explores the roll and powers of the Employment Tribunal.

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What is an Employment Tribunal?

An Employment Tribunal is similar to a County Court but it deals exclusively with employment related matters. It will receive evidence from each of the parties and make its decision and can deal with the following types of cases:-

1. Unfair dismissal claims.
2. Redundancy claims.
3. Discrimination.
4. Disputes regarding the national or minimum wage.

Wrongful Dismissal Claims

If you have a claim for wrongful dismissal you would normally not take this action to the Employment Tribunal. The reason for this is that the amount of compensation they can award is limited and quite often a claim for wrongful dismissal will exceed the limit in the Employment Tribunal. Therefore,Scotland Employment Tribunals Guide Articles it makes much more sense to take your claim for wrongful dismissal to the County Court.

Time Limits

The Employment Tribunal has certain time limits that must be adhered to, to ensure a claim can be heard. For example, a claim for unfair dismissal must be made within three months of the date of the dismissal, and in other cases the employee will have to have one year’s continuous employment before they can make a claim.

Before the claim is issued in the Employment Tribunal you must raise your complaint with your employer and they must be allowed twenty eight days to respond. If you do not take this action your claim to the Employment Tribunal may be rejected until you do so.

Payment of your salary whilst your claim continues

There are certain types of serious claims which allow an employee to make an immediate application to the tribunal for you to continue to receive your salary. The following are the types of claims for which you can make this application:-

• Whistleblowing (where your employer is carrying out dangerous or illegal practices). Failure to allow you to carry out relevant health and safety related activities when it is your job to do so.

• Taking someone with you to a disciplinary or grievance procedure and being dismissed for doing so.

• Acting as a worker’s representative in a disciplinary or grievance procedure.

• Trade Union related dismissals.

A claim for immediate payment of your salary must be made within seven days of the date of your dismissal.

What is the process for an Employment Tribunal application?

Once you have raised your Employment Tribunal application, ACAS will receive details of your claim and will contact you and your employer. They will attempt to resolve the dispute by negotiation.

If you are unable to settle the claim, the claim will continue through various hearings until finally the Employment Tribunal hear your application.

Final hearing at an Employment Tribunal

Once all the evidence has been obtained, the Tribunal will consider the claim and make their decision. The Tribunal consists of three people, one legally qualified chairman and two other people from industry or the business sector.

The Employment Tribunal can make one of the following decisions:-

• Reinstate you to your previous position of employment.
• Compensate you for your dismissal.
• Order that no compensation is payable to you.

Summary

The Employment Tribunal deals with all employment related matters and disputes and has similar powers to the County Court. However, dealing exclusively with employment matters makes it more focused and knowledgeable on these types of disputes. The only time you would not take an employment matter to the Employment Tribunal would be for wrongful dismissal where the compensation awarded

Pre-employment tests clearly tell you if a job applicant could ‘fit in’ your company’s culture. But, you must carry out an important step. This article reveals what to do.

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PRE-EMPLOYMENT TESTS ACCURATELY TELL YOU IF APPLICANT WILL ‘FIT IN’ YOUR COMPANY’S CULTURE

Pre-employment tests clearly tell you if a job applicant could ‘fit in’ your company’s culture. But,How To Hire Applicants Who ‘Fit In’ Your Organizational Culture Articles you must carry out an important step.

Specifically, pre-employment tests first need to be benchmarked for each job in your company. For instance, let’s say you want to hire great sales reps. Start by having some of your sales reps take the pre-employment test. Use this to find the “benchmark” or typical test scores of your best sales reps. Then, test applicants. Applicants who gets test scores similar to your best sales reps have a good likelihood of

a. being productive workers

b. ‘fitting in’ your company’s culture

EXAMPLES of PRE-EMPLOYMENT TEST BENCHMARKS REVEALING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

The pre-employment tests I created are used by many companies. So, in my consulting work, I conduct huge numbers of benchmarking studies to help companies hire the best. The benchmark research uses two pre-employment tests:

1. Behavior Test – to forecast 5 personality traits, 3 interpersonal styles, and 5 motivators

2. Cognitive Ability Test – to forecast 5 mental abilities or brainpower

Here are examples of pre-employment test benchmarks revealing companies’ cultures.

1st Example = Friendly, Service-Focused Company Culture

One company using pre-employment tests from me benchmarked many of its jobs. In every job, the company’s best employees got these test scores:

* high scores on test’s Friendliness, Teamwork, Optimism, and Helping People scales

* low scores on test’s Aggressiveness, Rigidity, and Power Motivation scales

The pre-employment test benchmarks clearly reveal that company’s corporate culture. The test helps that company consistently hire productive employees who ‘fit in’ its friendly service culture.

2nd Example = Knowledge-Driven Company Culture

Another company sells cutting-edge technology. Its growth potential is huge – but only if it hires the right sales reps.

In the pre-employment test benchmarking study, I found the company’s finest sales reps consistently got

* high scores on test’s Learning Motivation and Problem-Solving Ability scales

* low scores on test’s Money Motivation and Creativity Motivation scales

The pre-employment test’s benchmark scores stunned the company’s VP-Sales. He mistakenly thought his best sales reps were creative and pay motivated. But, actually, the best ones excelled at (a) learning about the technology plus (b) intelligently problem-solving ways the technology would help prospective client operate more profitably.

Wow. The pre-employment test benchmark scores were an eye-opener – and much different than test scores of commission-driven salespeople.

These pre-employment tests enabled that company to peer into applicants’ minds – to reveal which applicants would ‘fit in’ its knowledge-driven culture.

3rd Example = Perfectionistic, Obsessive-Compulsive Company Culture

Another pre-employment test client of mine also had me test its best employees in many jobs, so it could hire applicants with the highest probability of (a) ‘fitting in’ its culture and (b) being highly productive workers.

Again, pre-employment test benchmark scores revealed that company’s culture was ultra-perfectionistic. In every job, the best employees’ benchmark test scores included

* high test scores on Following Rules, Fact-Focus, and Handling Small Details scales

* low test scores on Flexibility and Emotion-Focus scales

Clearly, this company’s culture relied on employees being obsessive-compulsive.

When that company hired applicants who got pre-employment test scores similar to its best employees, it hired winners – productive employees who ‘fit in’ the company’s culture. But, when it hired employees who got test scores different than its best employees, they failed on-the-job.

WARNING: 3 WAYS APPLICANTS TRICK YOU IN JOB INTERVIEWS

The problem with interviewing job applicants is this: Most interviewers make mistaken judgments about applicants they interview. Research backs up this assertion. Here are conniving ways applicants trick interviewers:

1. Trained how to job-hunt – so applicant knows good answers to your interview questions

2. Study your company – so they act like they have what you want

3. Charm – so interviewer gets ‘carried away’ with appealing applicant

OOPS: 8 WAYS MANAGERS HIRE THE WRONG PERSON

Plus, interviewers and hiring managers make many dumb mistakes – resulting in mistakenly thinking a lousy applicant is a good applicant. Here are five ways interviewers make dumb mistakes:

1. Gives away ‘good’ answers – tells applicant what interviewer is looking for

2. Blabbermouth – talks too much – tells applicant what interviewer wants to hear

3. Desperate – interviewer wants to hire someone NOW

4. Lazy – hiring manager too lazy to find more and better applicants

5. Bullheaded – ‘wants to hire whom s/he wants to hire’ – despite warning signs

Interviewers also make three dumb mistakes when it comes to pre-employment testing:

6. Wrong Norms – uses national norms – rather than company customized benchmarks

7. Fails to Test Applicant – thus does not have most accurate, revealing evaluation

8. Ignores Test – bets against company’s custom-tailored benchmark scores

PRE-EMPLOYMENT TESTS MAKE IT EASY TO HIRE EMPLOYEES WHO ‘FIT IN’ YOUR COMPANY’S CULTURE

Fact: Each time you hire someone you are betting. You bet your career and your company’s financial success.

Pre-employment tests using customized benchmarks for your company’s jobs make your bets easier, cheaper, faster, and more likely to succeed. Tests objectively tell you if an applicant (a) ‘fits in’ your organizational culture and (b) has work-related qualities similar to your good employees. Job interviews seldom tell you these important, profit-impacting insights.

You get such profit-improving insights from cor