Employment advice

FRU represents applicants in Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunals. We do not accept referrals directly from members of the public, therefore please do not contact the FRU offices directly. To access our services, cases have to be referred to us by one of our referral agencies: these include Citizen's Advice Bureaux, Law Centres and Mind. We are essentially an advocacy service: we take on cases only once a hearing date has been received from the Tribunal. Over 300 employment cases are taken by FRU every year.

Click here for a list of our employment referral agencies. Click here for preliminary online information from the Citizen's Advice Bureaux.

Our voluntary representatives come from a variety of legal backgrounds: from people who have just completed a law degree to QC barristers. They all represent clients as FRU representatives, irrespective of their formal qualifications. They are all trained by FRU and will not be allowed to take out a case unless they have the relevant experience.

If you are having problems at work, try to seek legal advice before resigning. If you resign you will only have a legal remedy in very limited circumstances. Keep a diary of all the events that occur.

Be aware that in order for your claim to be submitted to the Employment Tribunal, there is generally a three-month time limit. However, as time limits vary for different causes of action, you are advised to seek legal advice from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau as soon as possible.

If you have a problem at work, or have been dismissed, you should seek legal advice from one of our referral agencies or another legal advisory service. Please do make sure that anybody you consult has employment law experience.

Because we are dependant on volunteers' availability, we cannot guarantee to represent every case which is referred to us.  We obviously try to take on as many cases as we can. Nevertheless, you should not assume that we will take on a case that has been referred to us. 

If we can take your case, a volunteer will make direct contact with you.  Until and unless you hear from us, your safest course of action is to prepare your case on the basis that you will have to represent yourself.