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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> L v Q Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 1417 (09 August 2019) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2019/1417.html Cite as: [2019] EWCA Civ 1417, [2019] WLR(D) 471, [2020] ICR 420, [2019] IRLR 1033 |
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ON APPEAL FROM THE EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL
THE HONOURABLE MRS JUSTICE SLADE
UKEAT/0209/18/BA
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
and
LADY JUSTICE ROSE
____________________
L |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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Q Ltd |
Respondent |
____________________
Safia Tharoo (instructed by Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP, Southampton) for the Respondent
Hearing date: 7 August 2019
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
Lord Justice Bean :
Should the ET's judgment be published?
i) Confidential informationSection 10A states that ET procedure regulations may enable an employment tribunal to sit in private for the purpose of hearing evidence from any person which in the opinion of the tribunal is likely to consist ofa) information which he could not disclose without contravening a prohibition imposed by or by virtue of any enactment;b) information which has been communicated to him in confidence or which he has otherwise obtained in consequence of the confidence reposed in him by another person orc) information the disclosure of which would… cause substantial injury to any undertaking of his or in which he works.ii) Allegations of sexual offences or sexual misconduct
Section 11(1)(a) enables rules to be made in cases "involving allegations of the commission of sexual offences, for securing that the registration or other making available of documents or decisions shall be so effected as to prevent the identification of any person affected by or making the allegation." I do not read this provision as enabling the tribunal to say that the whole judgment should be kept secret, but plainly it allows anonymisation in appropriate cases, and Rule 49 of the ET Rules accordingly permits the deletion from the judgment of any matter likely to identify any person affected by or making the allegation.Section 11(1)(b) enables an ET, in cases involving allegations of sexual misconduct, to make a restricted reporting order, having effect (if not revoked earlier) until the promulgation of the decision of the tribunal.iii) Section 12
Section 12 is headed "Restriction of publicity in disability cases". It provides-:(1) this section applies to proceedings on a complaint under s 120 of the Equality Act 2010, where the complaint relates to disability in which evidence of a personal nature is likely to be heard by the employment tribunal hearing the complaint.Evidence of a personal nature is defined by s 12(7) as "any evidence of a medical, or other intimate nature which might reasonably be assumed to be likely to cause significant embarrassment to the claimant if reported"Section 12(2)(a) states that ET procedure regulations may enable an ET "to make a restricted reporting order having effect (if not revoked earlier) until the promulgation of the decision of the tribunal."
The ET Rules
"50.—(1) A Tribunal may at any stage of the proceedings, on its own initiative or on application, make an order with a view to preventing or restricting the public disclosure of any aspect of those proceedings so far as it considers necessary in the interests of justice or in order to protect the Convention rights of any person or in the circumstances identified in section 10A of the Employment Tribunals Act.
(2) In considering whether to make an order under this rule, the Tribunal shall give full weight to the principle of open justice and to the Convention right to freedom of expression.
(3) Such orders may include—
(a) an order that a hearing that would otherwise be in public be conducted, in whole or in part, in private;
(b) an order that the identities of specified parties, witnesses or other persons referred to in the proceedings should not be disclosed to the public, by the use of anonymisation or otherwise, whether in the course of any hearing or in its listing or in any documents entered on the Register or otherwise forming part of the public record;
(c) an order for measures preventing witnesses at a public hearing being identifiable by members of the public;
(d) a restricted reporting order within the terms of section 11 or 12 of the Employment Tribunals Act.
(4) Any party, or other person with a legitimate interest, who has not had a reasonable opportunity to make representations before an order under this rule is made may apply to the Tribunal in writing for the order to be revoked or discharged, either on the basis of written representations or, if requested, at a hearing.
(5) Where an order is made under paragraph (3)(d) above—
(a) it shall specify the person whose identity is protected; and may specify particular matters of which publication is prohibited as likely to lead to that person's identification;
(b) it shall specify the duration of the order;
(c) the Tribunal shall ensure that a notice of the fact that such an order has been made in relation to those proceedings is displayed on the notice board of the Tribunal with any list of the proceedings taking place before the Tribunal, and on the door of the room in which the proceedings affected by the order are taking place; and
(d) the Tribunal may order that it applies also to any other proceedings being heard as part of the same hearing.
(6) "Convention rights" has the meaning given to it in section 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998."
Publication of the judgment in the Register
"We have carefully considered the very high premium placed on the principle of open justice. However, this is one of those rare cases where we consider the balance to fall in favour of the orders we have made. We have taken account of the medical evidence, including from a clinical psychologist, which explains that the claimant is experiencing adjustment disorder, on top of his other disabilities, as a result of anxiety about the Tribunal claim. He has expressed thoughts of not wanting to wake up, though no intent to harm himself at present.
We were told the Claimant was also anxious about other people being in the room. He is a self-conscious and embarrassed about the manifestations of his disabilities in the hearing. … we are concerned that his added worries about a public hearing will interfere with his concentration and stress levels and effect his ability to give evidence adequately. Indeed, we are told by his counsel that he is wondering whether or not he would feel able to go ahead if such orders were not made."
43. As well as allowing for a restriction in cases concerning confidential information (as provided by section 10A ETA), Rule 50 thus provides that restrictions on publicity may be imposed both in the cases expressly referenced at sections 11 and 12 ETA (sexual misconduct allegations; disability cases) but also more generally. This wider ability to restrict publicity derives from the Secretary of State's general power to make procedural regulations for ETs, under section 7 ETA, whether read by itself or construed in accordance with section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (see Fallows v News Group Newspapers, per Simler P at paragraph 43). It is apparent, however, that the Secretary of State has chosen to exercise that power in a different way to that allowed in national security cases.
44. Taken at face value, the power to restrict publicity, whether for reasons of national security or otherwise, stands in contrast to the transparency that would otherwise be required by the principle of open justice. As already stated, it is a power, however, that acknowledges the fact that other competing rights and interests may sometimes require that transparency is curtailed. The rights provided by both Articles 6 and 10 ECHR are qualified and allow that interests of national security or other Convention rights (including the right to respect for a private life under Article 8) may outweigh the requirement for public access to judicial proceedings or pronouncements. In proceedings before the ET, the balancing out of these competing interests or rights is governed by the 2013 Regulations and the ET Rules, which provide (to summarise):
44.1 That the Lord Chancellor is required to maintain a public Register of all ET Judgments and Written Reasons (Regulation 14 2013 Regulations).
44.2 Subject to Rules 50 and 94, the ET is required to enter on to the Register a copy of every Judgment and document containing Written Reasons for a Judgment (Rule 67 ET Rules).
44.3 In national security cases, Rule 94 ET Rules permits the ET to make certain redactions from the Judgment and Written Reasons and - significantly - to determine that the Written Reasons will not be entered on to the Register in some cases.
44.4 In cases involving confidential information or where required by the interests of justice or in order to protect rights under the ECHR, Rule 50 ET Rules permits the ET to make certain redactions from the Judgment and Written Reasons (including the anonymisation of the parties) but makes no provision for the ET to do other than enter the Judgment and Written Reasons on to the Register.
45. Although an ET's power to restrict the publication of Judgments and Written Reasons is thus not unlimited, there is a broad discretion vested in the ET under Rule 50, which is not limited in time (see Fallows per Simler P at paragraphs 38 to 44). That said, it is likely to be a rare case where other rights (including those derived from Article 8 ECHR) are so strong as to grant an indefinite restriction on publicity (Fallows, paragraph 42): the requisite balancing exercise in each case is for the ET (see the discussion of this exercise and the respective roles of the first instance and appellate tribunals in Fallows at paragraphs 49 to 52).
46. Thus far in this analysis, I have assumed that a competing right (relevantly, under Article 8 of the ECHR) is engaged. In determining whether that is in fact so, the ET will, however, first need to determine:
"… is the information private in the sense that it is in principle protected by Article 8? If no, that is the end of the case. …"
See McKennitt v Ash [2008] QB 73 per Buxton LJ at paragraph 11.
47. Where information is revealed in the course of discussion in a public trial, there can be no expectation of privacy (see the observation made by Lord Sumption at paragraph 34(1), Khuja v Times Newspapers Ltd [2017] UKSC 49). As for what the ET should take to be the record of what took place in a public judicial hearing, an earlier judgment provides conclusive evidence of its own existence (as distinguished from the accuracy of the decision rendered)…
48. Should the ET be satisfied that an Article 8 right is engaged, however, in exercising its discretion under Rule 50 it will need to consider whether the interests of the owner of that right should yield to the broader interests established by the rights afforded by Articles 6 and 10. In carrying out the balancing exercise thus required, the ET will be guided by the following principles derived from the case-law (helpfully summarised by Simler P at paragraph 48, Fallows): (i) the burden of establishing any derogation from the fundamental principle of open justice or full reporting lies on the person seeking that derogation; (ii) it must be established by clear and cogent evidence that harm will be done by reporting to the privacy rights of the person seeking the restriction on full reporting so as to make it necessary to derogate from the principle of open justice; (iii) where full reporting of proceedings is unlikely to indicate whether a damaging allegation is true or false, the ET should credit the public with the ability to understand that unproven allegations are no more than that; and (iv) where such a case proceeds to judgment, the ET can mitigate the risk of misunderstanding by making clear it has not adjudicated on the truth or otherwise of the damaging allegations."
"16. The rationale for a general rule that hearings should be held in public was trenchantly stated by Lord Shaw of Dunfermline in the leading case of Scott v Scott [1913] AC 417, at 477. He quoted first from Jeremy Bentham:
"'In the darkness of secrecy, sinister interest and evil in every shape have full swing. Only in proportion as publicity has place can any of the checks applicable to judicial injustice operate. Where there is no publicity there is no justice.' 'Publicity is the very soul of justice. It is the keenest spur to exertion and the surest of all guards against improbity. It keeps the judge himself while trying under trial.' 'The security of securities is publicity.'"
He also quoted the historian Henry Hallam:
"Civil liberty in this kingdom has two direct guarantees; the open administration of justice according to known laws truly interpreted, and fair constructions of evidence; and the right of Parliament, without let or interruption, to inquire into, and obtain redress of, public grievances. Of these, the first is by far the most indispensable; nor can the subjects of any state be reckoned to enjoy a real freedom, where this condition is not found both in its judicial institutions and in their constant exercise."
17. This longstanding principle of the common law is reflected in article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights:
"In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgment shall be pronounced publicly but the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interest of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of the parties so require, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice."
It has been held acceptable to provide that a whole class of hearings, such as those relating to children, should normally be held in private: B v United Kingdom (2002) 34 EHRR 19. As the right is that of the litigant, this provision has normally become relevant in cases where the court proposes, in pursuance of one the exceptions to the normal rule, to sit in private, but the litigant wishes the case to be heard in public.
18. However, in many, perhaps most cases, the important safeguards secured by a public hearing can be secured without the press publishing or the public knowing the identities of the people involved."
"There is no temporal or other limitation on the type of order that may be made under this Rule. Rule 50 (3) is plainly not exhaustive of the types of orders that may be made, but merely identifies what orders may be included. Parliament has given a wider power in Rule 50(1) notwithstanding the existence of a more restrictive, specific power in Rule 50(3)(d) to make RROs "within the terms of section 11 or 12", recognising in light of the authorities referred to above and the Underhill Review, that a wider power was required. The obvious inference, having regard to the genesis of this rule, is that Parliament intended Employment Tribunals to have the power to make RROs in a broad range of circumstances, and to an extent that went wider than the power strictly defined in sections 11 and 12 ETA 1996.
Although "restricted reporting order" is a term of art defined by section 11(6) ETA 1996, and there is no reference in Rule 50 to any other kind of RRO, there is no reason (as Underhill J said in F v G) why the abbreviation RRO should not be used when making an order preventing or restricting disclosure of any aspect of proceedings under Rule 50(1) provided that it is understood as applying to a wider order restricting the reporting of identifying matter than would otherwise be permitted under section 11 and Rule 50(3)(d) alone." [emphasis added]
Redaction to "anonymise the disabilities"
Lady Justice Rose:
Case No: A2/2019/1759
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION) ON APPEAL FROM THE EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL THE HONOURABLE MRS JUSTICE SLADE UKEAT/0209/18/BA |
BETWEEN
Appellant/Claimant
Respondent
BEFORE LORD JUSTICE BEAN AND LADY JUSTICE ROSE;
UPON CONSIDERATION OF THE APPELLANT'S NOTICE OF APPEAL DATED 24 JULY 2019;
AND UPON HEARING MS A PALMER ON BEHALF OF THE APPELLANT AND MS S THAROO ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT ON 7 AUGUST 2019;
IT IS ORDERED THAT:
DATED THIS 9TH DAY OF AUGUST 2019