The appeal courts and specialist courts in employment law

Covered in this video are the appellate courts and specialist civil courts that sit above the Employment Tribunal within the English and Scottish legal hierarchy, examined in the context of Unit 5OS01 and AC 1.2. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are each addressed, with attention to the composition of those courts, the conditions under which permission to appeal is granted or withheld, and the distinction between appeals on points of law and challenges to findings of fact. The concept of perversity as a ground of appeal, the role of procedural irregularities, and the requirement to give adequate reasons are among the specific appeal grounds the video identifies at EAT level.

The video also covers the precedent-setting function of the appellate courts — from the EAT's role in clarifying statutory interpretation and creating binding authority for Employment Tribunals, through to the Court of Appeal's position as a forum for important points of principle or practice, and the Supreme Court's reserved jurisdiction over questions of general public importance. The Supreme Court's replacement of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords in 2009 is noted as part of understanding the current hierarchy. Throughout, the video situates these courts within the enforcement machinery that AC 1.2 requires candidates to examine, rather than treating them as abstract constitutional structures.

Two specialist civil courts — the County Court and the High Court — are brought into the discussion to map the boundaries of tribunal jurisdiction. The County Court's relevance to breach of contract claims arising during ongoing employment, to workplace personal injury claims, and to the enforcement of unpaid tribunal awards is identified, as is the High Court's Queen's Bench and Chancery Divisions and their respective connections to high-value contract disputes and restrictive covenant litigation. Injunctive relief as a High Court remedy, and its particular significance where employers seek to restrain departing employees, is named as a distinct topic within the video.