Shopping List approach to Tribunals

Employees placing claims at Employment Tribunal are increasingly adopting the ‘shopping list’ approach.

This means that a number of alternative claims are submitted. For example, an employee may contest that, in the event a tribunal finds they were not wrongfully dismissed an alternative claim that they were unfairly dismissed is proposed.

Claimants are hedging their bets by posing different scenarios to the tribunal. Similarly, the respondent can pose arguments for the different scenarios, however needs to be wary of not tripping themselves up by making contradictory statements.