Gillian Philip – fighting for rights for authors

[NonnyMouse1337]

Some gardening needed if anyone has a bit of cash to spare. Seems important for those on precarious contracts.

You can search for it online as
Gillian Philip – fighting for rights for authors

There's a previous crowdfunder but this is the most recent one.

Snippets from the description:

Gillian brought an Employment Tribunal claim against publishers Working Partners and HarperCollins. Gillian argues that she was unlawfully discriminated against when her contract to write children’s books was terminated because of her gender-critical beliefs.

A preliminary hearing was held to determine whether Gillian’s claim had been filed in time and whether she had rights under the Equality Act 2010 as a worker or employee of Working Partners.

The judge at the Employment Tribunal described Gillian’s situation as close to unique. Gillian won on the trickiest aspect of her case, delay in bringing a claim. The judge found that it was just and equitable to allow her case to be pleaded after the time limit because in the immediate aftermath of her sacking by Working Partners she was depressed following the death of her husband.

However, although Gillian won on the time question, she lost on the worker status question and so she now seeks to appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. She has a good chance of success because the Tribunal judge conceded he did not have all the necessary evidence before him to make his decision on worker status. The reason for the lack of evidence was the deliberate refusal of Working Partners to supply documents ordered by the judge previously.

The point to be argued at appeal is whether Gillian was a “worker” controlled by Working Partners. Gillian has no doubt she has already shown she had little discretion and worked under a strict creative regime entirely controlled by Working Partners under commission from HarperCollins.

the issues at stake here are anything but narrow – this concerns the protection of thousands of precariously employed people who make their living through creative expression, especially women who believe in the reality of biological sex. Without employee or worker status, contract writers are not protected under the Equality Act 2010 and so can have their contracts abruptly terminated for their beliefs. Gillian was victimised in precisely this way. Unless Gillian appeals, and wins, unscrupulous employers will continue to get away with arrangements intended to side-step Equality Act protections by designating a freelancer as ‘independent’, giving such employers the power to silence writers.

Gillian and the Free Speech Union are particularly keen to hear from ghost writers and journalists on stringer contracts about how they are controlled by their publishers, since that might be helpful in this case. This appeal could be of ground-breaking importance in the publishing industry, determining not only the freedom of speech rights for contract writers, but also pay and conditions. If Uber drivers can break free, so can authors. Please join the fight.

Thank you Nonny, this is really important.

The crowdfunder isn’t accepting donations at the moment, I just tried

@Songsparrow you might have been looking at the old crowdfunder. The new one is still open. Unfortunately the title of both of them are very similar.

Ah thanks, I'll have another go

OK found it thank you!

Great! It's really annoying that we aren't allowed to link directly to these things.

It looks like Gillian lost her appeal as the judge did not accept she was a worker entitled to bring an employment case. Just received this update:

First of all, I want to thank my supporters - your amazing generosity allowed me to pursue this case as far as I have, and I am incredibly grateful to every one of you.
I am disappointed with the judge’s decision, but to an extent unsurprised. I discovered on the day of the appeal that the judge assigned to this case was a brand new Employment Judge, had no background in employment law, and that this was his first ever Employment Tribunal case. It seemed unlikely to me that he would have the confidence to overturn a previous judge’s decision.
It was also disappointing that the judge ruled out of hand against live tweeting by @TribunalTweets, whose work for open justice has been praised by previous judges.
I am also taken aback by the fact that the court took six months to produce a judgment which, on my view, did not address my grounds of appeal in any detail. Having had to wait so long for the decision, I feel disappointed that my arguments were not given the consideration they deserved.
Working Partners - whose management did not even appear in person at the appeal - have effectively avoided any accountability by hiding behind hiring practices which I continue to believe were ruthless and exploitative. That alone is telling, as I believe my case for discrimination against my legally held beliefs was completely solid.
I also continue to believe I was a worker in law, and that I should have had the same employment rights as others.
Working Partners - the company responsible for such well known products as “Rainbow Fairies” and “Beast Quest”, as well as the Erin Hunter brand - has made many excuses for caving to an anonymous mob. But one particularly egregious claim is that I was fired simply for expressing my political opinions on a professional account. The company and its staff were well aware of my social media activity for years. Furthermore, Working Partners have allowed (and continue to allow) other Erin Hunter writers and staff to express strong political opinions - frequently foul-mouthed ones - on social media without sanction. It is clear that my opinions were considered unacceptable purely because they went against those of the mob who came for me on 25th July 2020.
I also find it notable that the Society of Authors expressed no interest in my case - a case which could have positively affected many other writers who are in a similar position to mine. A different decision would have given those writers, too, the employment protection they deserve - but the Society of Authors was silent. It is my hope that the recent change in the chairmanship of the Management Committee might see a change of direction. Ideally this would be a new and far more appropriate commitment to the rights of writers - regardless of whether their political opinions align with the Management Committee’s.
I now have a little over a month to decide whether to appeal further. However, I am very aware that there are many other causes that call on the energy and commitment of those of us in this fight. I am going to take a few days to discuss options with my wonderful and supportive legal team, and I hope you will be patient with me. What’s important to me is that I do what’s best for all of us.
In the light of the Cass Report, and of the WPATH files revealed last month, it’s more important than ever that we win the right to argue - without fear of employment loss, blatant discrimination and financial punishment - against an egregious and deceptive ideology that harms children and women. Whether that aim is best achieved through my case is another matter, and one that I have to consider carefully.
My love and deep gratitude to you all.

That’s an impressive and remarkably gracious statement. She must be so disappointed, and perhaps disillusioned. I wish Gillian well.

I agree. Gracious is a good word.

I always found her case one of the more shocking. She went from writing books to driving lorries for the crime of saying #IStandwithJKRowling, didn't she.