Pictured above: Nicholas Jew, head of employment law at DLA Piper in Birmingham

With unemployment continuing to soar, expert Midlands lawyers at DLA Piper are warning employers to ensure they don't fall foul of the law when carrying out disciplinary and redundancy procedures, as the number of tribunals escalates.

A further 220,000 people lost their jobs in the UK over past three months, while recent tribunal rates show a 26 per cent rise in unfair dismissal claims over the last year, promoting the suggestion that some employers may have turned to disciplinary processes as a way of removing employees without having to pay redundancy costs.

Despite an overall decrease in tribunal claims in the past year, the number of claims following redundancy dismissal shows a dramatic increase. These include claims on the grounds of failure to consult on redundancy (up by 80 per cent); redundancy pay (up 38 per cent); and breach of contract (up 25 per cent).

Lawyers are calling for employers to ensure that every disciplinary process is scrutinised as these lastest tribunal numbers show that disgruntled employees are increasingly likely to take action in the downturn. It may be that with the latest unemployment figures showing that the number of people out of work has risen to its highest level for 14 years with 2.4m unemployed, more employees are willing to face a tribunal as finding another job becomes increasingly difficult.

Nicholas Jew, head of employment law at DLA Piper in Birmingham, said: "It is to be expected that employers will be less tolerant of poor performance or misconduct when the pressure on payroll increases and there is no doubt that, as a result, dismissals have become more commonplace over the last six months when combined with the existing high levels of redundancies.

"As redundancy levels rise more people will complain about the circumstances of their dismissal and we anticipate further increases in tribunal claims for unfair dismissal and discrimination.

"The use of devices such as random drug testing is increasing, and with the MPs' expenses claims so prominent, we would expect to see the scrutiny of expenses claims also increasing. Both are possibly seen as ways of enabling employee exits without incurring redundancy costs."

He added: "Employers must ensure that they adhere to the law and don't overstep the line. Taking a 'one strike' policy for lesser offences could be construed as unfair. Similarly, treating previously minor offences as gross misconduct in order to dismiss staff will not only affect the morale of the workforce, but probably lead to time consuming and costly tribunals. With replacement jobs now being much harder to come by, employees are far more likely to sue their former employer."

Employers are being warned to ensure their actions are beyond reproach if they wish to avoid tribunals and legal action from former staff, especially if redundancy rounds are being undertaken around the same time.

There were 131,365 tribunal claims in the first 11 months of 2008/09, representing a 24 per cent decrease on 2007/08 when adjusted to compare against the previous 12 month period.

The figures show a large increase in claims for age discrimination (27 per cent), but a significant reduction in the number of claims for sex discrimination (30 per cent) and equal pay (26 per cent).

Of the 82,253 claims dealt with by the Tribunals Service during the first 11 months of 2008/09, 34 per cent were withdrawn, 32 per cent involved Acas-conciliated settlements and 13 per cent were successful.