Allison Bailey v Stonewall - Employment Tribunal hearing Thread 18

[ickky]

The Tribunal started on 25th April, witness testimony concluded on the 26th May. Closing arguments for council was on the 20th June.

There was also live tweeting from

twitter.com/tribunaltweets

Abbreviations:

AB: Allison Bailey, claimant
BC: Ben Cooper QC, barrister for AB
SW = Stonewall Equality Limited (respondent 1)
IO = Ijeoma Omambala QC, senior counsel - barrister for SW
RW = Robin White junior counsel to SW - assisting IO
GC = Garden Court Chambers Limited (respondent 2) (GCC )
AH = Andrew Hochhauser QC, senior counsel - barrister for GC
JR = Jane Russell junior counsel to GC - assisting AH
RM= Rajiv Menon QC & SH = Stephanie Harrison QC (jointly respondent 3 along with all members of GC except AB)
EJ = Employment Judge Goodman hearing the case

Panel = Judge Goodman, Mr M. Reuby and Ms Darmas

Thread 1 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4529887-Allison-Bailey-v-Stonewall-Employment-Tribunal-hearing?

Thread 2 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4542466-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-2

Thread 3 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4545725-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-3

Thread 4 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4546945-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-4

Thread 5 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4548160-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-5

Thread 6 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4550451-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-6

Thread 7 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4551757-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-7

Thread 8 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4552521-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-8

Thread 9 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4553181-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-9

Thread 10 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4553754-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-10

Thread 11 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4555145-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-11

Thread 12 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4555687-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-12

Thread 13 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4556235-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-13

Thread 14 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4556407-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-14

Thread 15 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4556803-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-15

Thread 16 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4557036-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-16

Thread 17 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4561850-allison-bailey-v-stonewall-employment-tribunal-hearing-thread-17

Allison Bailey - claimant (4-9, 11-13 May)

Witnesses for the claimant:

Dr Nicola Williams - Fair Play for Women (29 April)
Dr Judith Green - A Woman's Place (29 April)
Kate Barker - LGB Alliance (3 May)
Lisa-Marie Taylor - FiLiA (4 May)

Witnesses for the respondents:

Stephen Lue - barrister for GCC (3-4 May)
Zainab Al-Farabi - ex Stonewall (10 May)
Kirrin Medcalf - head of trans inclusion Stonewall (10 May)
Leslie Thomas - barrister at GCC (13 May)
Sanjay Sood Smith - Stonewall (16 May)
Shaan Knan - LGBT consortium - on STAG (16 May)
Rajiv Menon - joint head of chambers (16-17 May)
Maya Sikand - barrister at GCC (17-18 May)
Mia Hakl-Law - HR senior for GCC (18 May)
Judy Khan - barrister at GCC (19-20 May)
Charlie Tennent - clerk at GCC (20 May)
Luke Harvey - clerk at GCC (20 May)
Louise Hooper - Barrister at GCC (20 May)
David Renton - barrister at GCC (20 May, 25 May)
Marc Willers - Barrister at GCC (23 May)
Stephen Clark - Barrister at GCC (23 May)
Liz Davies - Barrister at GCC (23 May)
Cathryn McGahey - Bar Council Ethics Committee's VC (24 May)
Tom Wainwright - Barrister at GCC (24 May)
Colin Cook - Head clerk at GCC (24 May)
David de Menezes - GCC, Head of Marketing (25 May)
Kathryn Cronin - barrister at GCC (25 May)
Michelle Brewer - barrister at GCC at time, now left and a judge (26 May)
Stephanie Harrison - joint head of chambers (26 May)
Closing arguments for AB, GCC, and SW (20 June)

Allison Bailey's

Witness Statement

allisonbailey.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Witness-Statement-of-Allison-Bailey.pdf

Supplementary Statement

allisonbailey.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/C-Supplementary-Witness-Statement.pdf

Closing Statement

allisonbailey.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/CLOSING-SUBMISSIONS-FINAL.pdf

Yes. We want them out of every company, school, government department. And this is the way to do it.

People will stop employing them if the people they are training can turn round and say this is absolute rubbish, without any fear.

Fantastic - thank you for the link, EmbarrassingHadrosaurus!

So glad for, and grateful to, Allison. She's done an amazing thing.

allisonbailey.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2022-07-22-Press-Release-Publication-copy.docx.pdf

Link to press release

The judgement is out tomorrow 12.00 GMT

Leaders within organisations are responsible for the organisational culture and the behaviour of their employees and workers. Stonewall’s resources, support and guidance is just one set of inputs they use to help them as they consider how best to meet the needs of their own organisation.

Crikey. That reads like you can do what we say, but on your own head be it 🤣🤣🤣

She must be exhausted. Glad she's not doing any press (according to her press release). She deserves a good long rest after all she's done for us.
Thank you Allison Bailey

quite - never in the history of mankind have so many intelligent well educated well meaning people been too busy to do their jobs properly for so long.

I can't believe they even defended this after WORIADS.

Basically means they added insult to the injury they caused to Allison - their conduct was considered by the ET to be so bad that they have to pay Allison an additional amount of damages to compensate her further.

Stonewall isn't in my company, and yet my bonus will in part be decided by whether or not I put pronouns on my Zoom, email and intranet entry. I don't understand what pronouns I would even put. I'm not defined by being a woman. But I really, really need the money.

Absolutely!

and thanks for the link to the full decision, ickky.

Exactly.

I hadn't considered how perfect this would be. In order to even acknowledge what the chambers have done, Stonewall will have to implicate their own advice!

Stonewall: "We are proud to work every day for the freedom, equity and potential of every LGBTQ+ person"

...unless they have the wrong opinions.

Such fantastic news. I hope it hasn’t come at too high a cost to Allison, what a strain it must have been for her.

Copied and pasted from the judgement:

".Adjustments for disability had been made by E J Stout at an earlier case
management hearing for the witness Kirrin Medcalf . The adjustments were to
help him find text in documents. The tribunal was a little surprised when, as
Shaan Knan was called, a request was made for extra time to make adjustments. On questioning what these adjustments were, the tribunal was
told that when giving evidence he was to be accompanied by his mother, by a
support worker and by a support dog. Further questioning elicited that the
support worker was an employee of the first respondent’s solicitor, to help with
any IT technical difficulty. Mother and dog were there for moral support. There
was no time to adjourn for a case management hearing, and in any case
Case No: 2202172/20206 medical evidence was not available. On the basis that some Garden Court witnesses had needed help from a technician, that his mother could have sat near him in a hearing room, and that a dog was unlikely to interfere with evidence, the adjustments were allowed, on condition the camera position was moved back so that all three people were visible on screen throughout his evidence. This was done"

You couldn't make this shit up!

That whole Godfather-esque routine of nice little practice you've got here, shame if anything should happen to it, is really coming home to roost.

Yeah what happens to it is, we get off scott free and you get pounded for following our advice.

How many places now is that who have come a cropper over trying to implement Stonewall law?

That Stonewall statement is shocking, passing the buck and no acknowledgement that there might be a need for a period of reflection about what they are doing, particularly as there is a finding about the belief about lesbians being disadvantaged by gender identity theory. I hope it gets lots of coverage.

I can't stop smiling. This feels like a massive win (despite TRAs expected "she lost against Stonewall"crowing). As PP have said, companies will now think twice about taking any advice from them. The wall is crumbling.

I hope all of Michelle Brewer’s associates are quietly sniggering at her now.

Absolutely this. What a brilliant result, I am surprisingly emotional about it

Well surely, you'd have thought so wouldn't you? Shall we write and ask for it? 😁

"The case heard by the Employment Tribunal did not accurately reflect our intentions and our influence on organisations. Leaders within organisations are responsible for the organisational culture and the behaviour of their employees and workers. Stonewall’s resources, support and guidance is just one set of inputs they use to help them as they consider how best to meet the needs of their own organisation."

Translation: Nuffin to do with us, bruv.

Well Done Alison and team. Fortunately more and more people are now waking up and realizing that you, and people like you are on right side of history after all.

craggy don’t you know that no one at Garden Court knows how to use Twitter? (Except when they do).

How many places now is that who have come a cropper over trying to implement Stonewall law?

Not enough. What is it going to take for some leading companies to do their own due diligence and risk assessment—both of which should acknowledge that it's improper to rely upon guidance or advice from Stonewall.

I'm experiencing open hostility from a colleague for highlighting the safeguarding issues raised in the Cass Report. This person is an EDI lead and Stonewalled With Confidence. I hope this case might bring some much needed sunlight into workplaces made toxic by Stonewall.

So relieved for her. I hope she takes some time to relax and destress.

My new acct Twitter ban is over, in time to go argue with the inevitable TRAs who will come out from under their slime-coated rocks to tweet hate.

Congratulations Allison!