Sentinel - Volume 8
Periodic Irregular Update on Tribunal Tweets and Open Justice
Scotland
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble
__
By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes
Not since the first performance of Macbeth in 1606 have 3 women had such an impact on Scottish politics; indeed on public life in all of England, Scotland and Wales. The three directors of For Women Scotland - Trina Budge, Susan Smith and Marion Calder - prevailed over the Scottish Government on appeal to the Supreme Court. Sex in the Equality Act means biological sex and possession of a Gender Recognition Certificate does not change a person’s sex category for purposes of the Equality Act.
A seismic event in public life and politics; here is a selection of press coverage up through 21 April 2025 and our reporting on the appeal itself.
We at Tribunal Tweets would like nothing better than to see employers, associations and sporting federations acknowledge and protect the sex based rights of all, not to mention the rights to freedom of speech and belief. It is early days but we see no signs of litigation efforts winding down. While it continues, we will seek to report on it.
We did cover other proceedings since our last edition in August of 2024. And a number of cases that we have previously reported are in the process of appeal or retrial.
Appeals - many
Kevin Lister.
Lister lost his employment tribunal vs New College Swindon. Our coverage is here. He is seeking leave to appeal with a hearing scheduled on 19 May 2025. He is also appealing against the Disclosure and Barring Service placing him on the Children’s Barred List for ‘misgendering a transitioning student’. The Upper Tribunal has given directions to proceed to a hearing. Lister does not yet have a date for the appeal against the DBS decision. He posts updates on X here.
Allison Bailey.
Updates on Bailey’s case have appeared in 3 previous editions of the Sentinel. Bailey originally brought proceedings against her chambers - Garden Court Chambers and Stonewall - for discrimination. The original decision found against Garden Court Chambers only. Bailey sought leave to appeal the Stonewall finding and has been granted the right to appeal. Links to our coverage of the case can be accessed from this page.
Higgs vs Farmor’s School.
Kristie Higgs was sacked by Farmor's School following a single complaint about two Facebook posts regarding the teaching of RSE and 'gender’. She claimed religious (Christian) and belief discrimination, but lost. She appealed, and the decision was overturned, but the case was directed to be re-heard at the ET. Higgs appealed that decision and her case was heard at the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal reversed a ruling which defended the dismissal of Higgs and confirmed that the Equality Act protects traditional Christian beliefs on social issues. Our reporting of the case is here.
Bernard Randall.
Dr Randall’s case was heard at a full employment tribunal at Nottingham Justice Centre in September 2022 before a presiding panel of three, which included Judge Victoria Butler, and lay member Mr Jed Purkis. The Tribunal rejected all of Dr Randall’s claims. Appeal was initially refused but finally agreed by consent. Two subsequent developments resulted in Judge James Tayler of the Court of Appeals ordering a full merits hearing after the respondents consented to the appeal. The first was the Court of Appeal decision in Higgs vs Farmor’s School referenced above. The second was the collapse of another employment tribunal in Nottingham after explicit anti-Christian and anti-conservative social media posts surfaced that were made by lay member Jed Purkis.
Open Letters
There is something about debates on sex, gender and free speech that results in the proliferation of open letters. We continue to catalogue these. Another 49 in the second half of 2024. Only 11 as of 23 April 2025, so this trend may be ebbing at last.
Nurses vs the NHS
There are currently cases of nurses seeking single sex changing rooms; one in Scotland and one in the England.
Ms B Hutchison & others v County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
A group of nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital, are bringing an employment tribunal against the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, alleging sexual harassment and sex discrimination. The case concerns the Trust’s policy allowing a male colleague, who has not undergone any surgery, who identifies as a woman named Rose Henderson, to use the female changing rooms.
The case is scheduled for a full merits hearing, beginning on 20 October 2025.
Peggie vs Fife Health Board and Dr. B Upton
Ms Peggie, a nurse at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy (VH), has brought claims in the employment tribunal against her employer; Fife Health Board (the Board) and another employee, Dr B Upton. Ms Peggie’s claims are of sexual harassment, harassment related to a protected belief, indirect discrimination and victimisation. Dr Upton claims to be a transwoman, that is observed as male at birth but asserting a female gender identity.
The case is currently ‘part heard’ with the merits hearing expected to resume on 16 July 2025. The EHRC published commentary on the case as well as correspondence with NHS Fife and the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, shortly after the case went part heard. Our reporting can be found here and includes press coverage through 16 February 2025. A second page of press can be found here.
There was significant public interest in the case, resulting in 700+ people attempting to log on to the tribunal’s video conferencing facility. After some disruption Judge Kemp restricted the video facility to journalists, bloggers and Tribunal Tweets.
The respondents opposed Tribunal Tweets initial application to live tweet the tribunal but were unsuccessful. They renewed their opposition and have requested that Judge Kemp revoke the reporting order and again restrict the video facility to journalists only.
The decision is pending and not expected before mid-May 2025 at the earliest.
Additional potential cases
We are aware of two further potential cases involving the NHS.
Faye Russell-Caldicott has issued a employment tribunal complaint against NHS England for indirect discrimination on the basis of sex (women), religion (Islam), philosophical belief (gender critical) and disability (PTSD) for having a transgender policy in place which permits men to use the female toilets, changing room and showering facilities.
Jennifer Melle who was given a final written warning and referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council has issued a employment tribunal complaint against Epsom and St Helier University Hospital Trust for harassment, discrimination, and breaches of her human rights.
Developments Down Under
Deeming vs Pesutto
Moira Deeming, a MP in the Australian state of Victoria, brought a successful defamation action against John Pesutto and has been awarded Aus $300k in damages plus costs to be determined.
Deeming, formerly part of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, sued the Leader of the Victorian Parliamentary Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition, John Pesutto, alleging he imputed that she supports, sympathises with and knowingly associates with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, holds abhorrent white supremacist and Neo-Nazi views, and is a neo-Nazi, after she attended, promoted and helped organise a women’s rights rally featuring Kelly-Jay Keen (Posie Parker) in Melbourne, March 2023.
We did not report on the case but an overview of the case, links to the judgment and many of the relevant documents in the case, can be found here.
Lesbian Action Group vs Australian Human Rights Commission
The Lesbian Action Group (LAG) is an Australian lesbian community organisation. It was told that it must keep its events open to transgender lesbians as part of LAG’s ‘target group’ after the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) refused to grant it an exemption from anti-discrimination laws. The group appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and on January 20, 2025, Senior Member Stewart Fenwick upheld the AHRC's original decision.
The tribunal ruled that excluding transgender and bisexual women would constitute unlawful discrimination, emphasizing that sex is not a binary or fixed concept under the law and that granting the exemption could lead to further discrimination against transgender women. The LAG is reportedly considering further appeals, potentially to the Federal Court.
ICYMI - Recent cases covered
Harriet Haynes vs Paul Thomson & Anna Goodwin (English Blackball Pool Federation - Chairman & Secretary). A trans identifying man is seeking to compete in the women’s competitions of the EBPF.
Adult Human Female Filmmakers vs University and College Union (UCU Gender-critical documentary makers allege discrimination by the UCU.
Newman vs the Metropolitan Police - A woman police constable is claiming for harassment and direct discrimination on the grounds of her gender critical beliefs alleging various seminars presented gender critical beliefs as not worthy of respect in a democratic society.
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We expect the lawfare to continue despite the recent Supreme Court ruling. Employment tribunals do not ‘referee’ workplace disagreements. They consider if claimants have been discriminated against and if so, the extent of the detriments, actions or omissions by the employer that caused a worker to be placed at a disadvantage, or treated worse than before.