To appeal or not to appeal is sometimes the question that faces a party to an employment claim when a finding goes against them following the hearing before the initial forum. At least it may be said that the risks associated with appealing are not as great under most pieces of employment legislation, where often (but not always) the appeal is not into the civil courts but to a specialist body outside the courts system such as the Labour Court or the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

In these cases, an award of legal costs against the losing party is highly exceptional and each party carries its own legal costs (if any). However, this is not to say that an appeal may