Personal injury (PI) lawyers have always needed either a good grasp of the fundamentals of employment law or access to a colleague with relevant expertise.

There are numerous occasions when it will be necessary to advise or refer for advice on employment law.

Some PI claims will not be economically viable to pursue or may simply duplicate items which will already appear on the schedule of loss.However, in many situations further advice and proceedings may be prudent or necessary.

If the client cannot afford legal representation, the options should still be explained.PI lawyers will regularly act for injured employees who are dismissed from employment directly or indirectly as a result of their injuries.

The investigation costs in such cases should be fully recoverable.However, work done on an unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal or other employment claim itself will often fall outside the scope of the PI claim for costs and funding purposes.

Advice on the detail of the claim itself, the issuing and prosecution of any proceedings and any advocacy will have to be funded separately.

Subject to eligibility, the client will be able to get a green form for initial advice.Full legal aid will not be available for industrial tribunal claims.

Industrial tribunals now have limited contract jurisdiction in respect of claims arising upon termination of employment and therefore legal aid may not even be an option in a significant number of contract claims.

There may be no point pursuing a privately funded industrial tribunal claim for recovery of losses which could have b een claimed in a PI case.The composition of the claim itself should be carefully examined and, where the bulk of the losses consists of loss of income, it may not make sense to take it further.However, there are cases in which clients should be advised further on the availability of other industrial tribunal remedies or referred on to an appropriate colleague.-- A client with long service who is dismissed should be made aware that a large basic award may be available and that this will not be recoverable in the context of the PI claim.-- If there is a question of sex discrimination or race discrimination, an award for injury to feelings may be available in addition to the basic award and the compensatory award.-- Following the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993, certain health and safety dismissals are automatically unfair.-- An unfair dismissal case will usually come to a hearing far more quickly than a PI claim and may therefore be an attractive option.-- Where the defendant in a PI case is also the employer, extensive discovery of documents may be available at an early stage in the context of an industrial tribunal case.-- Solicitors should be wary of industrial tribunal claims where there is a possibility that the loss of income will not be recovered, in whole or in part, in the context of the PI claim.

Bearing in mind that the time limit for bringing a tribunal claim for unfair dismissal is only three months, it may be necessary to advise the client to issue protective industrial tribunal proceedings where the liability issues cannot be resolved within that three-month period.-- Where causation is an issue in connection with loss of income, a tribunal claim may be the only option.

Be sure loss of income is recoverable in the injury claim before advising on the abandonment of possible tribunal claims.In R v Secretary of State for Employment, ex p.

Seymour-Smith and Perez [1995] IRLR 464, it was held that the two-year qualification period for unfair dismissal was unlawful.

This raises issues about the qualifying period which have yet to be resolved.

In certain cases it is now advisable to issue protective proceedings even where the statutory two-year qualifying period has not been attained.Redundancy is another danger area.

Most employers now operate assessment or matrix schemes where multiple redundancies are concerned.Matrix systems award points for, inter alia, length of service, productivity, absence and flexibility.

The injury may result in less points being awarded.

The employee might be unfairly selected for redundancy, or might be fairly selected but with loss of income because of points lost as a result of the injury.

Credit may have to be given for any redundancy payment.Stress-related illness claims are a new and difficult area of PI law.

Walker v Northumberland County Council [1995] 1 All ER 737 established the possibility of bringing claims for purely mental injury arising from pressure of work.

Heavy work-loads, sexual or racial harassment or other pressures may lead to such claims being brought.

There is a regular overlap between such claims and claims for unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and constructive dismissal where stress or harassment has resulted in resignation.In practice, the PI claim, evidentially and in terms of causation, can be the more difficult to make out and an industrial tribunal claim should still be considered, even where a stress-related PI claim is thought likely to fail.