I want to ask whether an employment tribunal or a small

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I'm very sorry to read of the above. May I confirm that you are employed as opposed to self-employed please?

thank you. In circumstances such as this, you can elect either to issue proceedings in the County Court or at the employment tribunal. You will need to be mindful of limitation periods which are three months for an employment tribunal whereas it is a much longer six year period for the County Court.

If you run over the three-month limitation period which obviously you have not done so as things stand, then the choice in this sense is made for you but within that initial three-month period, you can choose one or the other as you prefer

in circumstances such as this, there is unlikely to be a obvious advantage or disadvantage to either approach. Issues which may influence your decision would be that in the Small Claims Court you would need to prove breach of contract on the part of your employer whereas in an employment tribunal, you can claim on the basis of unlawful deduction of wages which generally is easier to prove though in either case, I assume you have little difficulty showing that you are owed the wages and your contract and as such, this is probably not something that would be a practical issue.

In the small claims court, there is an option for the employer to make a counterclaim against you if they can show for example that you have breached your contract wears in the employment tribunal, this is not possible.

Generally, claims before an employment tribunal will be perhaps a little more straightforward than those in the small claims court though one can hardly category small claims as being particularly difficult to pursue.

the small claims approach allows you to access the free small claims mediation service before proceeding to a hearing to see if the matter can be settled. If you think there is scope for the matter to be settled through mediation, then this can be a speedier resolution than either Small Claims Court or employment tribunal.

I hope the above is of some assistance but if you have any further questions, please revert to me.