Deposit Order

Rule 39(1) of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013  says that during a preliminary hearing, if the Employment Judge finds that any specific allegation or argument in a claim or response has little reasonable prospect of success, the Judge can order the person advancing that allegation or argument to pay a maximum deposit of  £1,000 to continue. The deposit order will be made on each weak allegation or argument and not at the entire claim or response. This means that a person can be asked to pay £1000 for every single aspect of a claim or response that has little reasonable prospect of succeeding, and end up paying more than  £1000 in total. This is what happened in Wright v Nipponkoa Insurance (Europe) Ltd, where the Employment Judge said that seven out of Mr Wright's eleven discrimination and whistleblowing allegations had little reasonable prospects of success and ordered him to pay seven deposits totalling £2,100 to continue with them. [see How to get a default judgment in the Employment Tribunal , Application for a default Judgment in the Employment Tribunal]

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