Tribunal trouble in Yorkshire. How good employers end up paying the price.

Employment Tribunals aren’t just a risk for careless or toxic employers, they’re increasingly catching out the good ones too.

In Yorkshire, where most businesses are led by hands-on, straight-talking owners who genuinely care about their people, this feels particularly unfair. You support your team, do what you believe is right, and still find yourself facing a legal claim. And when the ruling lands, it can feel completely out of touch with common sense.

But the reality is, these decisions aren’t always about what you did, they’re about how you did it.

Good intentions aren’t enough at tribunal

Let’s look at two examples many Yorkshire business owners will recognise:

A likeable but underperforming employee is supported, coached, given time, but never improves. Eventually, they’re dismissed. A claim is filed, and upheld. You think to yourself, what more could we have done?

A staff member verbally abuses a director. The company takes immediate disciplinary action. They lose the case on a procedural issue, and you wonder, has the world gone mad?

While full figures for 2024 are yet to be published by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), employment tribunals in England and Wales are expected to remain above 65,000 for the year, continuing a post-pandemic trend of consistently high claim volumes. The average cost of defending an unfair dismissal claim is £16,000.00, rising to up to £40,000.00 on average to defend a more complex case of discrimination or harassment. These costs only consider defence, if a case succeeds, an employer is easily looking at tens and hundreds of thousands of pounds to payout in compensation and reimbursement. Not exactly friendly on the Yorkshire pocket!

And the majority of these claims? They’re not about scandal or exploitation, they’re about avoidable process errors, poor documentation, or simple gaps in complex legal understanding, when an employer has simply tried to do the right thing.

Process failures often outweigh employee misconduct

Many of the employers I support are genuinely shocked by the extent of what could be picked apart in a tribunal:

• A missing meeting note

• An unclear policy

• A lack of mutual consultation

• A poorly worded outcome letter

At OneSource HR, none of the employers we support have ever been to tribunal under our cover, in fact, we’ve never been to tribunal in our entire careers. Our whole purpose is to provide proactive support that keeps employers out of trouble before it reaches that point. HR consultants who boast about their tribunal experience are like surgeons who brag about patients dying on the operating table. It’s not a mark of success, it’s a sign of failure in the process.

A recent Yorkshire case highlights just how simple it is to end up in a tribunal by innocent mishap; a business lost a claim despite their employee clearly committing gross misconduct. Why? Because the manager handling the process wasn’t trained in employment law, and skipped key procedural steps. This is more common than you’d think. Research from the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) found that 43% of SMEs in the UK lack formal HR support, and 82% of managers have never received any formal training.

The issues that often get picked apart in tribunals aren’t always about misconduct; they’re about biases in attitudes and internal HR support lacking the independence necessary to handle tricky situations. That’s why it’s crucial to work with external consultants, even if you already have internal HR support. Having an impartial, experienced perspective can be the difference between a costly tribunal and smooth, compliant operations.

Why Yorkshire businesses are at greater risk of tribunal

In cities like London or Manchester, larger employers tend to have full HR teams and legal advisers on tap. However, the landscape of business in Yorkshire is predominantly SME dominated, with Doncaster Chamber of Commerce reporting an 11.3% increase in SME sized businesses in the region from 2019 - 2023.

SMEs operate differently:

• Decisions are made quickly

• Managers wear multiple hats

• Processes are often informal

• “People-first” instincts guide the way

That approach works, until it doesn’t. And tribunals have to balance the consideration of good intent, alongside the cold concrete letter of the law.

A growing risk in harassment cases

Even in cases like sexual harassment, where employers take swift action for the right reasons, we’re seeing businesses lose due to how the situation was handled, not because they failed to act.

A 19-year-old sales assistant in Leeds was subjected to unwanted sexual conduct by a colleague. The tribunal found that the employer's response, including the grievance appeal process, was inadequate and dismissive. The tribunal concluded that the employer's actions contributed to the harassment, emphasising the need for thorough and impartial investigations. In this case it was not a failure to act, but the intricate nature of handling such a complex and sensitive case that caused a costly legal outcome for the employer.

In case you didn’t know, the law on sexual harassment changed in October 2024 with the introduction of the Worker Protection Act, and employers are now mandated under the Equality Act, and by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to take proactive and anticipatory action on sexual harassment.

Sounds like a minefield right? Don’t worry, we can help if you haven’t yet acted.

So, what can you do when it feels like you can’t do right for doing wrong?

The good news is that these risks are preventable. You don’t need to become a legal expert or stop trusting your instincts, you just need to pair your judgement with the right process.

Here are 5 practical things every Yorkshire business can do right now:

1. Review your policies – especially around performance management, harassment, disciplinary, and grievance. Make sure they’re legally sound and up to date. If they haven’t been reviewed by a professional in less than 2 years, or if you are operating with off the shelf policies from a large provider, that might not reflect what happens in practice in your business, take action.

2. Train your managers – most procedural errors happen here. A one-hour training could save you tens of thousands, and actually proactively boost productivity and your bottom line with a return on investment.

3. Document everything – if it’s not written down, it didn’t happen. That’s how tribunals see it. You need to do this in a way which respects employee privacy and doesn’t disengage your team. That’s where a HR expert can help.

4. Don’t rush decisions – even when it feels urgent. Pause, plan, and follow the process. Often, speaking to an outsider as a sounding board can help you do the right thing.

5. Get local HR support – someone who understands Yorkshire business culture, the fast paced nature of SME life, and employment law can be invaluable.

Let’s end on a positive

Most tribunal claims can be avoided, not by being perfect, but by being prepared.

At the Wakefield Expo in March, I ran a session called HR Horrors, sharing real cases where good businesses were caught out by process errors. The reaction? Overwhelming. Business owners left saying: “I wish I’d known this sooner.”

If you’re running a business in Yorkshire and any of this has struck a chord, I’d be happy to offer you a free 1-to-1 consultation.

No pressure, no jargon, just a straightforward chat about your people's challenges and how to protect your business from legal risk.

Whether you’ve had a close call before, or just want to sense-check that everything’s in place, I’m here to help.

👉 Drop me an email at chloe@onesourcehr.co.uk to book in a time to chat.