Employment tribunals jurisdiction

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an employment tribunal has jurisdiction to determine a claim made by an employee against the insurer of an insolvent respondent under the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010 (TP(RAI)A 2010). It was necessary to interpret the word ‘court’ in TP(RAI)A 2010, s 2 as including an employment tribunal in order to give effect to the clear purpose of TP(RAI)A 2010, which was to enable the liability of the insolvent insured and the claim against the insurer under TP(RAI)A 2010 to be determined in the same set of proceedings. It rejected the insurer’s contention that an employment tribunal was not a ‘court’ and so any claim against the insurer by an employee pursuing a claim against their insolvent employer in an employment tribunal had to be brought as a separate claim in the county court or High Court