in person v Respondent — 2020

Ms D O'Connor brought race discrimination claims against the Bar Standards Board arising from the investigation into the Cunliffe complaint, the handling of the Mushtaq and Vaughan-Birch complaints, and the publication of the outcome of the Cunliffe appeal and its appearance in internet search results. The tribunal recorded that the claimant also wanted the appeal judgment to be published with hyperlinks to other judgments, together with an apology and an inquiry, and it considered her case at its highest for the purposes of the preliminary hearing.

Applying section 123 of the Equality Act 2010, the tribunal accepted for this hearing that the publication issues and related requests were capable of amounting to conduct extending over a period, but held that the alleged omissions were treated as occurring when the respondent decided not to act. It found that time began to run around the end of March 2013, or at the latest early 2014, so the claim presented on 12 December 2018 was several years late. The tribunal also noted that mere repetition of requests did not of itself create a policy, practice or rule, and that continuing consequences were not enough to amount to conduct extending over a period.

On the just and equitable issue, the tribunal accepted that delay was partly explained by the birth of the claimant's first child, marital breakdown, the court appeal, reduced workload and mental health difficulties, but found that she could have brought the tribunal claim sooner. It held that there would be significant prejudice to the respondent in defending events so long after they occurred, and concluded that it was not just and equitable to extend time. All of the claimant's race discrimination claims were therefore dismissed.