Bankers Gain a New Route to Huge Payouts From UK Tribunals

Finance-sector workers are about to become the unintended beneficiaries of the UK’s Employment Rights Act, a set of trade-union-backed policies primarily designed to strengthen protections for people in low-paying or insecure jobs.

The Labour government will scrap the financial cap on unfair dismissal claims on Jan. 1. Currently, an employment tribunal can award a maximum of £118,223 ($157,780) to an individual who has been wrongfully fired. But many City of London employees earn multiples of that sum in a year, so their lost earnings can’t be fully recovered through a claim over dismissal alone.