Jo Phoenix vs The OU Employment Tribunal 2nd October (whispers Ben Cooper)

[ickky]

Employment Tribunal starts next Monday, not sure if it is available for remote viewing.

I have sent a request so we will see.

@katmarie Same and same. Also missing the 'waiting for the conference host to join' man, who I had forgotten about until now.

Yes, waiting for conference host to join.

technology seemed to be working ok, I turned off my camera and microphone while we’re in the virtual waiting room.

Wishing Jo all the best!

Is anyone in yet? (Mine is still waiting for the conference host)

Still waiting - using the time to worry about whether I used the right settings when I logged on.

Just got kicked, re-joined, waiting for the conference host to join. 😴

I imagine there will be a flurry of "I'm in!" when it starts. I've also got Tribunal Tweets open and they're in the waiting room too.

Glad I am not the only one in the waiting room then....

Yes, I just clicked over to Tribunal Tweets to check the state of play too.

Anyone else get two emails with the log in?
I'm still in the waiting room.

Yes, the first one didn’t have the attachments

Ah, that'll teach me to just skim read.

What were the attachments?

Looking in on Tribunal Tweets.

CVP FAQ and a 'How To Join'. Both my emails had both attachments.

I'm hoping this delay means that the OU has come to their senses and a negotiation is happening behind the scenes.

Although I expect it's probably just normal availability/scheduling/Monday morning/IT issues.

It will be IT issues.

I may be wrong, but I don't think JP wants to settle, she wants academic freedom and everyone to see how badly she had been treated.

Could it also be that the hearing has started and there are some matters to be discussed before it opens up to observers?

I don't think Tribunal Tweets are in yet, either.

This is all I have so far
Tribunal tweets hopes to live tweet the employment tribunal between Prof Jo Phoenix and the Open University from 10am today although we have not yet received permission to do this. We have not received a list of witnesses or legal counsel so will complete this as case proceeds.
9.46 am

They have updated since then @LarkLane https://twitter.com/tribunaltweets/status/1708780120666763395

The Judges for these GC Tribunals, can't have been living under a rock, so (by now) they should really be aware of the interest they generate.

Surely the EJ's talk?!

Well they must know in this case as they mentioned the large numbers wanting to observe.

Exactly!

So, why do they seem to respond like it has taken them by surprise. There's always so much dithering about.

They've been using the CVP technology for a while now, so there's no excuse for ineptitude now.

Absolutely - the whole 'first come first served' basis for observation. We know large numbers can be accommodated - I forget which case (maybe LGB Alliance) - they added a second 'room' for observers due to interest?

Last minute settlements at the door of the court are common. However, I think the dynamic involved in settling just before the hearing doesn't work for these crowd-funded gender identity-related cases. At that point, the claimant has a massive sense of grievance, and an overwhelming desire to make public what they've experienced, and they've gone through a lot of effort and stress to raise the money, and they have little to lose by continuing. It's not going to save the claimant any money because the funds raised would need to be returned.

To get a settlement you'd need the defendant to be making an approach earlier and with an offer of a true public apology and institutions like the OU can't afford that. It would hugely enrage the trans activists and they could seek to damage the institution. Better to go into the proceedings with an expectation of losing and making a public display of "ally-ship". That's what I think CGD did.