Ten women call for tribunal judge to be investigated
Ten women are campaigning for an employment tribunal judge to be investigated over accusations of bullying and misogyny. The women allege Judge Phillip Lancaster behaved inappropriately in their hearings, and claim the Judicial Conduct Investigations body (JCIO) - which deals with judicial discipline - has failed to address their complaints. Neither the JCIO, nor Judge Lancaster, have commented on the women's claims.Alison McDermott told the BBC she was a "strong, independent" woman but had been left "traumatised and ill" by the way Judge Lancaster behaved towards her during a discrimination case against her former employer in Leeds in 2021.
Ms McDermott lost her case, although an appeal judge later found there had been errors in her tribunal and she won some minor concessions.After she spoke to the BBC last year, other women came forward with complaints about Judge Lancaster.A group of 10 women are now collectively fundraising to pay for legal action to force the JCIO to investigate their complaints.Dr Charlotte Proudman, a barrister working on the case, called for a "transparent" system to ensure judges "can be held accountable when they get things wrong". "If there are 10 women that are coming forward in respect of one judge, why is it that he is able to continue without proper – as it seems – due diligence and investigation in respect of his conduct?"The JCIO told the BBC they cannot comment on individual complaints; individual judges are also unable to comment on cases or matters of conduct.Judge Lancaster has been an employment tribunal judge since 2007.There are no publicly available figures for the number of complaints made against individual judges, but in its most recently published annual report, covering 2022-23, the JCIO received 1,620 complaints in total.Just over a quarter of those complaints - 27% - related to inappropriate behaviour or comments by judicial office-holders.The organisation said misconduct "remains rare", with around 20,000 judicial office-holders in post across the UK.
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