I took my boss to tribunal and won £11,000 – this is why I forfeited the money

Nearly four years after an employment tribunal ruled in her favour, Marianna Michael says the experience still haunts her. “It nearly ruined my entire career. My mental health suffered. Many of us involved had been lied to, creating an incredibly toxic and distressing environment,” says London-based Michael, now 33. Employment tribunal claims are on the rise – up 39 per cent on last year, with Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) reporting record demand. Such is the backlog now that hearings are even being scheduled for 2030. “We are currently waiting for around 18 months for a case management hearing after a claim has been lodged,” confirms Sarah Calderwood, partner at Gorvins Solicitors. “Claims were often dealt with within six to 12 months, but this does not seem possible anymore.” Shorts This is in part due to a shift towards higher awareness of workers rights – lawyers are anticipating cases will grow further still, as from January 2027 employees will have six months to submit their claims compared with the current three months, and will be able to bring unfair dismissal claims after just six months service, rather than the current two years. Economic pressures, changing expectations around flexible work and the availability of AI to make claims easier to bring are also thought to be driving the number of tribunals. The experience can be stressful for all parties, but employees can win significant compensation if they are successful. In 2024 Ryan Toghill was awarded £45,000 from his former employer, Lidl, after an employment tribunal ruled he’d been unfairly dismissed, as his managers hadn’t fully taken his ADHD diagnosis into consideration during the disciplinary process. Nicola Hinds was awarded £350,000 for being discriminated against while pregnant – her employer calling her “emotional and tearful” when she expressed concerns about her workload and stress levels. Most recently, Jonathan Reeves won £1.45m from Goldman Sachs. An employment tribunal found the bank had unfairly dismissed him while he was on parental leave, in what’s thought to be one of the largest tribunal payouts. According to law firm MFMac, successful unfair dismissal claims can attract over £123,000 in compensation. Yet, Marianna Michael has only been paid £2,000 of the £11,000 which the employment tribunal ruled she was owed by her employer. Back in 2021, Michael thought she’d landed a dream opportunity, launching an event to showcase fashion designers based in the North. It was smooth sailing for around six months as the event took shape – then things started to crumble. Michael’s modest but steady salary stopped coming. Suppliers began to question late payments. Other staff members also began to complain about lack of payment. Michael felt she was in over her head – but that she had to see the event through to the end. So she accepted her boss’s promises of payment, and pushed through, even taking another part-time job to sustain her financially. The event managed to run in 2022, by which time Michael had already resigned – but she was determined to be paid what she was owed. She contacted Acas who advised her to put together a case file. She compiled over 150 pages of evidence – emails and texts promising payments that never materialised. Acas confirmed she had a case, so Michael filed her claim – and went to court in December. After a two-hour remote hearing, the judge ruled immediately that the event founder was to pay up. Yet several weeks later, Michael dropped the case. “I had a bit of a breakdown. Although the court can put pressure on them, they actually still can’t force payment or get bailiffs involved. I was getting aggressive messages from (the founder), and I thought, ‘I can’t take this ruining everything. It’s exhausting,’” Michael reasons. “I thought, ‘I can protect myself at this point. I can do without the money. I have a roof over my head.’ I think it was the relief of knowing that I’d won, and that I had done everything correctly. I had my dignity, and I didn’t want to lose any more.” ‘In theory, an employee should not be treated unfavourably because they sued their current or ex-employer. In fact, if they are, they could have a separate claim for victimisation,’ says Jemma Fairclough-Haynes Jeopardising future opportunities Michael also wanted to move forward with new work, and didn’t want her tribunal experience jeopardising future opportunities. Yet, she felt it was something she had to declare in interviews. “When I was applying for new work, I told the employer I have now, ‘This is what happened to me’, because I thought they could just Google me and see it,” says Michael. She now works in artist management and media relations, and is also doing a Master’s degree. “I wanted people to know why I did it and why I stayed, and that I did everything lawfully. I want to show people I have integrity. I want people to know why there is a case with my name on it.” Jemma Fairclough-Haynes is the CEO of Orchard Employment Law – and confirms that an employment tribunal record can count against you when it comes to looking for jobs in the future. “In theory, an employee should not be treated unfavourably because they sued their current or ex-employer. In fact, if they are, they could have a separate claim for victimisation,” she says. “That being said, in practice, many employers may consider a previous claim as a red flag and it could hinder future career opportunities. “All employment tribunal cases are now published online and there are very few circumstances of employee anonymity. There is also the possibility that local papers will report on an employment tribunal case if they think it is interesting.” While Fairclough-Haynes’s firm represents employers, she says employees can have a strong case if they believe their employer has done the wrong thing. “Unfair dismissal claims are easier to win on a technicality as judges look at the dismissal process, as well as the reason for dismissal – the burden of proof is very much on the employer,” she explains. “Constructive dismissal claims, where an employee resigns, are harder to prove as an employee, as the burden is on them. Discrimination claims can go either way, unless there is tangible evidence. A lot will ride on how credible the witnesses are at the hearing.” The more evidence you can gather, the better, she adds – written comments, appraisals, emails and even a handwritten diary documenting all experiences related to the case in real time. “In the case of Nicola Hinds [the pregnant employee who was awarded £350,000], exposing the employer’s feelings about an individual can make it more likely an employee is to win,” she says. “It’s made me more ruthless” Despite everything she went through, Marianna Michael doesn’t regret taking her boss to an employment tribunal. “I would do it again, but I would handle things differently. As soon as it became clear that I wasn’t being paid, I would have had a more direct conversation and set clear boundaries. I would have been prepared to continue working unpaid for no more than another month, and if payment still hadn’t come through by then, I would have walked away,” she states. “It’s made me more ruthless now. I won’t take rubbish treatment any more.”