Welcome to the intermittent round up of the work of Tribunal Tweets, our last update was in March and we’ve been busy since then. We are a volunteer citizen collective that reports on cases of interest from England, Wales and Scotland primarily. Once in a while from further afield; Canada, Australia and Norway for example. We value our independence and seek to be objective in our reporting. We do not accept donations or paid subscriptions and we fund our own expenses.
Money has been flowing for claimants though with a couple of notable decisions as described below.
Did I hear you correctly?
Tribunal Tweets reporters were startled to be mentioned by counsel for Garden Court Chambers (GCC) in the Employment Tribunal. Allison Bailey and GCC had claimed and counterclaimed for costs related to Bailey’s employment tribunal.
Costs are not normally awarded in employment tribunals, see this relevant excerpt from the decision in this particular costs claim:
Ben Cooper KC for Bailey argued for costs for the poor preparation of the bundle; the documents from both sides submitted as evidence to the tribunal. Jane Russell, acting for GCC, argued that two (of four) detriments put forward by the Claimant were unproven and therefore unreasonable. Russell asserted that 85 pages of tweets by Tribunal Tweets related to testimony primarily on the unproven detriments and that was 50% of the total coverage. She suggested to the Employment Tribunal that GCC therefore should be awarded 50% of their £766,000 of costs.
Allison Bailey was awarded £20,000 of costs, the maximum that the Employment Tribunal can award without further time consuming process and possibly court proceedings. Garden Court Chambers was awarded no costs.
See our coverage here: Bailey vs GCC
Forstater vs CGD - the Final Act
Maya Forstater did not have her contract renewed at the think tank Center for Global Development (CGD) in March 2019. She claimed against CGD in employment tribunal that included an initial ruling against her, a successful appeal against that ruling which gave us gender critical beliefs as ‘worthy of respect in a democratic society ‘ ‘WORIADS’, full merits hearing essentially a retrial of fact, and finally a remedies hearing (damages) after she prevailed in the Employment Tribunal.
Forstater was awarded £106,404.31 in damages and aggravated damages. This excerpt from the decision explains the role of CGDs public statements, made following the tribunal outcome, in the decision to award aggravated damages.
Expressing beliefs or manifestation of expression of beliefs?
Social worker of 20 years, Rachel Meade, is brought her employer, Westminster City Council, and professional regulatory body, Social Work England (SWE), to an employment tribunal due to discrimination on the basis of her protected (gender critical) beliefs. The tribunal took place at the Central London Employment Tribunal from 6 to 14 July 2023. Our full coverage is here - RM vs WCC and SWE.
The tribunal, in person only, was distinguished by the difficulty of hearing some of the witnesses for the respondent, less than fulsome responses to some questions from claimants counsel and other witnesses deemed important by the Claimant not being called by the respondent or not being available.
Our reporter was startled to hear that counsel for the respondents in his written submissions had suggested that witnesses for the respondents were hesitant to offer apologies or engage with hypothetical questions because the proceedings were being live tweeted. Claimants’ counsel reminded the tribunal that employment tribunals are subject to the principles of open justice and that there was considerable public interest in the issues in Rachael Meade’s case.
Calendar issues have pushed deliberations in Meade’s case to November 2023, with the tribunal hoping to issue a decision in December and a potential remedies hearing in February 2024.
Tribunal finds Arts Council England employee harassed
Denise Fahmy took her employer of 15 years, Arts Council England (ACE), to employment tribunal on the grounds that she was harassed and victimised due to her gender critical beliefs. Our coverage of the tribunal is here: Fahmy vs Arts Council England.
The tribunal found that Fahmy was harassed and that harassment was related to her gender critical beliefs. A hearing for remedies has been scheduled.
More professional bodies - actuaries this time
An actuary has failed in his attempt to have a disciplinary proceedings brought against him by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (professional regulatory body) dismissed. IFoA alleged that tweets and retweets by Patrick Lee used inflammatory language or language designed to offend Muslims. The proceedings will go ahead.
ICO decision on secret lesson plans under appeal
A parent was denied access to the materials used in relationship and sex education lessons for their 15 year old child. A subsequent appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) upheld the decision by the school. The parent is appealing the ruling. See our coverage to date here - FOI Appeal to Access Secret Lesson Plan
LGB Alliance retains charity status
Only last in this update because it has attracted the most widespread press coverage. Mermaids was deemed to have no standing to challenge the charity status of LGB Alliance. Our coverage and links to press coverage are in a special issue of Sentinel.
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