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Hello and welcome to the programme.

There are tens of thousands of employment disputes each year that end up as the business of employment tribunals.

Not all the disputes make it to the tribunal.

They might go to arbitration or be settled beforehand, but many are contested and heard

in front of a tribunal. And even the ones that don't get that far are, of course, affected by the

fact that the threat to go to court exists in the background. So we thought today we might

spend a little time hearing about what kinds of things end up in dispute and who

tends to win. And I have three guests well versed in this area with me. And let's start with

Sean Keel, partner at Travis Smith Law firm. And you've been specialising in employment law

Sean really for many years, mainly representing employers, I think.

That's right. Yes, I act on the side of employers primarily for conflict reasons,

because it's easier to sort of pick aside and stick with it. Right. Think of a case,

Sean, that you've been involved in over the years, and what lesson you draw from it about

employment tribunals. The case I always remember, I did years and years ago as a very junior lawyer

and it was a sex discrimination and redundancy case.

And I worked really hard on it.

It was very exciting.

And we went to the Croydon Employment Tribunal.

And my witnesses were pretty good and everything went pretty well. And we won the case,

which was fantastic for my client, but the takeaway point from it was that the judge at the end said,

I decide for the respondent against my better judgment. The law forces me to decide for them because they are technically right,

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