The Trades Union Congress (TUC) believe figures published by the Ministry of Justice, show that excessive tribunals fees are deterring the country's workforce from taking action against their employers.
It is clear there has been a significant drop in the caseload of employment tribunals. Since the introduction of tribunal fees, the number of single claims dropped from 13,739 in the first quarter of 2013 to 5,619 in the same period of 2014 - a 59 per cent fall.
With regards to claims type, the number of unpaid wage cases dropped by 85 per cent from 21,213 claims in the first three months of 2013 to just 3,133 claims in the first quarter of 2014, whilst over the same period, sex discrimination and unfair dismissal cases fell by 80 per cent and 62 per cent respectively.
The TUC is concerned that tribunal fees are too high, preventing many employees accessing justice and making it more likely that employers will escape punishment for wrong-doing.
Speaking on the Ministry's figures, Frances O'Grady, TUC General Secretary said: "If an employer breaks the law and sacks someone unfairly, sexually harasses them or cheats them out of their wages, it's understandable that an individual should want to seek some kind of redress. In the past there were no fees, and workers who felt they'd been wronged could have their case heard and the tribunal would either find for them or in their employer's favour. But last summer, the government decided to restrict justice to those who could afford to pay a fee. Today's figures show that many people – especially low-paid workers trying to claw back wages they are owed by their bosses – are being put off making a claim, often because the cost of going to a tribunal is more than the sum of their outstanding wages. The huge drop in cases taken certainly doesn't mean that Britain's bosses have got a whole lot nicer in the past year. It's simply because pursuing a complaint against a bad employer has become too expensive for many workers, and that is just plain wrong."
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