More women accuse tribunal judge of bullying

Three much women person accused a justice of bullying during employment tribunal hearings.

They accidental Judge Philip Lancaster was belittling and intimidating and made them consciousness anserine portion they presented their cases. One said she felt his behaviour successful her lawsuit verged connected intelligence abuse.

The 3 women person spoken retired pursuing a BBC study successful April successful which 5 women accused Mr Lancaster of bullying and sexist behaviour.

A spokesperson for the Judiciary Office, which supports the judiciary crossed courts successful England and Wales, said judges cannot remark connected matters of behaviour owed to law arrangements.

It said allegations of misconduct successful tribunal tin beryllium referred to the Judicial Conduct Investigation Office.

The 3 women each appeared earlier Judge Lancaster astatine the employment tribunal successful Leeds betwixt 2021 and this year.

In October 2022, Jackie Moore represented her girl who had brought a lawsuit of constructive unfair dismissal and disablement favoritism against her employer.

Ms Moore had spent 2 years preparing the lawsuit and had a fig of preliminary hearings earlier antithetic judges who she recovered “efficient and polite.”

However, she says nary of that prepared her for the afloat five-day proceeding she had earlier Judge Lancaster. She says helium was “patronising” close from the start.

“He thought I wouldn’t person a clue.”

Ms Moore said the justice repeatedly snapped astatine her and “blocked oregon challenged” the questions she was asking the witnesses provided by her daughter’s employer.

She says she felt “battered, intimidated and bullied by him, throwing his value about”.

When she work the accounts by different women who had appeared earlier the justice she realised she was not alone.

Employment tribunals are specializer courts that regularisation connected disputes betwixt employers and employees. There are astir 30,000 hearings successful Scotland, England and Wales annually, chiefly involving issues specified arsenic unfair dismissal, redundancy presumption and discrimination. Northern Ireland has a abstracted system.

In April BBC News heard allegations from 5 different women astir Judge Lancaster’s behaviour. The women, who encountered him successful abstracted cases, said they wanted to item his "degrading behaviour", including what they said was “misogyny and bullying”.

Earlier this year, different pistillate spent 7 days successful a proceeding earlier Judge Lancaster, having brought a lawsuit of property discrimination, constructive dismissal and unfair favoritism against her employer.

The woman, who wishes to stay anonymous, says she felt “fully prepared” arsenic she had spent good implicit a twelvemonth moving connected her case, adjacent attending different hearings successful Leeds to spot however litigants-in-person – radical who correspond themselves – were treated.

Again, she says her preliminary hearings had gone well. “Everyone allowed maine to talk, cipher unopen maine down, cipher made maine consciousness useless.”

That experience, says the 45-year-old, was successful nonstop opposition to however she was treated by Judge Lancaster.

“He made my beingness hell,” she recalls. "He’d enactment his hands connected his head, and appeared disinterested successful what I was saying. He repeatedly asked wherefore I was asking [my employer’s witnesses] peculiar questions and raised his dependable galore times. I felt useless.” She is present appealing the ruling.

Angela Gates brought a lawsuit of disablement favoritism and constructive dismissal against her leader successful 2021.

She says a proceeding successful beforehand of Judge Lancaster made her consciousness “like a villain being prosecuted”.

She says: “I felt I couldn’t springiness my broadside connected anything.”

The four-day proceeding was held connected Zoom, and Ms Gates, 53, says Judge Lancaster regularly shouted astatine her, repeatedly telling her to beryllium quiet. She says his behaviour was “appalling and degrading, verging connected intelligence abuse", adding: "I don’t judge I’ve been fixed a just trial.”

In his judgement, the justice said helium agreed with the defence’s statement of Ms Gates arsenic “tipping into paranoia”, saying this was not a disapproval of her but “a fact, fixed her mediocre intelligence health”. Ms Gates says she recovered this grossly offensive.

“He has nary aesculapian grooming to scope that conclusion,” she says.

She appealed the judgement but didn’t kick astir Judge Lancaster’s behaviour as, similar galore different litigants, “you are told not to kick connected the grounds of bias".

"You consciousness it volition impact your lawsuit if you get idiosyncratic astir a judge.”

A spokesperson for the Judiciary Office said appeals tin beryllium lodged against immoderate judgement wherever a enactment believes determination is an mistake of instrumentality oregon they did not person a just hearing.

But bringing a ailment against a justice successful the employment tribunal strategy is highly difficult. Judge’s notes are regarded arsenic the authoritative tribunal grounds but determination is nary work to merchandise them. Since precocious past year, proceedings successful immoderate tribunals person been recorded but determination is besides nary work connected the tribunal to merchandise the audio oregon supply the claimants with a transcript.

One of the women who primitively complained astir Judge Lancaster’s behaviour, Alison McDermott, believes the judicial strategy is wholly unaccountable.

“I’m fed up with this nonsense, the deficiency of transparency and fairness successful a tribunal of instrumentality successful the UK,” she said. “The full strategy is successful urgent request of a broad investigation.”