Practice Direction (Employment Appeal Tribunal – Procedure) 2018
The Practice Direction of the Employment Appeal Tribunal 2023 comes into force on 30 September 2023. It applies to all appeals commenced on or after 30 September 2023; and to appeals commenced before that date for steps that take place on or after it (see: Section 1.2.1).
The main function of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) is to hear appeals from decisions made by Employment Tribunals.
An appeal must be on a point of law, i.e. it must identify flaws in the legal reasoning of the original decision. The Employment Appeal Tribunal will not normally re–examine issues of fact.
The EAT also hears appeals from (and applications relating to) decisions made by the Certification Officer or by the Central Arbitration Committee, however these are infrequent.
The EAT’s powers are set out in Part II of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 (as amended) and the Employment Appeal Tribunal Rules 1993 (as amended).
The procedures which the EAT operates, and what it requires of parties, are set out in the Practice Direction.
The principles established in the EAT’s judgments are used by Employment Tribunals when they reach their decisions.
The EAT is headed by a President, currently The Honourable Mrs Justice Eady DBE