Prof Jo Phoenix vs The OU - Employment Tribunal Thread 2

[ickky]

Abbreviations

JP - Jo Phoenix, Claimant (C)
OU - The Open University, Respondent (R)
J - Regional Employment Judge Young
P - Panel or panel member
BC - Ben Cooper KC, Counsel for C
JM - Jane Mulcahy KC, Counsel for R

OU Departments & Networks:

HWSRA - Health & Wellbeing Strategic Research Area
FASS - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
SPC - Dept of Social Policy & Criminology
KMi - Knowledge Media Institute
GCRN - Gender Critical Research Network

OU witnesses

CW - Chris Williams, Senior Lecturer History
CT - Catherine Tomlinson, Senior Student Advisor
SE - Sarah Earle, Prof of Medical Sociology, Director HWSRA 2016-22
DD - Dr Deborah Drake, Senior Lecturer Criminology, Head of SPC 2018-21
LW - Louise Westmarland, Prof of Criminology, Co-Deputy Head SPC, 2018-21, Current Head SPC
LD - Dr Leigh Downes, Senior Lecturer in Criminology (in SPC), Academic Lead for EDI FASS 2019-21
PB - Dr Paraskevi Boukli, Former Senior Lecturer Criminology, Deputy Head SPC 2021-22
MW - Prof Marcia Wilson, Dean EDI, 2020-23
CM - Caragh Molloy, Group People Director 2019-23
JD - John Domingue, Prof of Computing Science, Director KMi, 2015-22
PK - Peter Keogh, Professor Health & Society, Member RSSH
CW - Dr Christopher Williams, Senior Lecturer History
SD - Shaun Daley, Head OU’s Resourcing Hub. Head Strategic Resources, Co-Chair OU’s LGBT+ Staff Network
HBC - Helen Bowes-Catton, Lecturer Social Research Methods
NS - Nicola Snarey, Assoc Lecturer Eng Language
NatS - Natalie Starkey, Outreach & Public Engagement Officer Sch Physical Sciences, 2019-22
CT - Cath Tomlinson, Senior Student Advisor
SJ - Samantha Jacobson, Employee Relations Case Manager
RH - Richard Holliman, Prof Engaged Research, Head School Environment, Earth & Ecosystem Sciences, 2019-22. Member of Investigation Panel investigating the C’s grievance

Witness for JP:

SE - Sarah Earle, Professor Modern History Uni of Oxford, Founding member GCRN

Tribunal Tweets - https://twitter.com/tribunaltweets

TT coverage so far https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/professor-jo-phoenix-v-the-open-university

Thread 1
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4905118-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-2nd-october-whispers-ben-cooper?page=1

Still waiting here

Appalling management of the online session again.

Went out and in again, still waiting for conference host to join... Is that what we get when we are "in the lobby" I wonder? There isn't a different link for this week, surely, is there? Frustrating.

Enjoy your proper tea, @RocketPanda .

Anyone know how many people still waiting?

Sound quality terrible and again there is someone typing away that is the only thing clearly being picked up by the mic.

Given the way the OU barrister has gone about things, I don't know why I'm surprised that the OU itself would behave in such a fashion.

17 in lobby. Sound extremely poor. Sound of typing drowns out any speaking.

How many observers are online and actually in the meeting if 17 of us are still stuck in the lobby?

I think there are 8 of us in and 18 waiting in lobby. Ridiculous.

Also the sound is shit yet again.

Has the clerk forgotten to let us all in?

They woken up and switched the mics on.

Still in the lobby. Didn't this happen on Friday as well - that people were just left in the lobby

@VWdieselnightmare I have been involved in an ET where all the witnesses were on line watching.

It’s actually quite hard to see the claimant be put through 3 days of questioning. You know you will get the same as a witness.

The OU has a duty of care to the witnesses, some of whom may be very reluctant witnesses. Putting them up in a hotel may be reasonable. Having an HR rep with them would be standard in my experience.

@Chrysanthemum5 Yes it did. Some people tried throughout the day and were unsuccessful.

12 people observing. 3 connected with the court. 19 in the lobby.

Still waiting to be let in remotely. Clerk demanded me to put my camera on which I said I wasnt comfortable with given my child being present and the nature of the case. Then said I would put it on to verify but had to log out first. Now still waiting.

No sign of Justin this morning. Only one clerk who has been asked repeatedly in the chat to let the waiting observers in.

Oh, are they doing another round of individual verification? FFS.

@Puddlelane123 I joined with camera on and then switched it straight off, everyone in (all nine of us!) seems to have done the same.

Yes, join with camera on and then switch off immediately. Cover it first if you are worried about momentarily appearing on screen.

I've logged out and enabled camera, now logged back in. Still waiting.

So if I turned my camera on, do you think the clerk would then let me in?

Worth a shot. It's a new clerk who seems to be taking a rather different approach to the whole thing.

Is JM taking the same tone with Sarah Earle as she did with Jo on Friday?