Prof Jo Phoenix vs The OU - Employment Tribunal Thread 7

[ickky]

Started on 2nd October at Watford Employment Tribunal (Radius House, 51 Clarendon Rd, Watford WD17 1HP 01923 281750)

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Header should read

URGENT CURRENT CASE - Public Access Request - J Phoenix - The Open University - 3322700/2021

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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

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

Witness for JP:

SE - Professor Sarah Earle, Head of the HWSRA

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

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

Prof Jo Phoenix Witness Statement (scroll to bottom of page and download)

https://jophoenix.substack.com/p/phoenix-v-open-university?sd=pf

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

Thread 2 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4913946-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-2?page=1

Thread 3 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4917480-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-3

Thread 4 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4918479-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-4

Thread 5 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4919223-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-5

Thread 6 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4921308-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-6

Emotional - 'The only thing that ever got people moving with any degree of urgency when I worked at a uni was if the spoons had all disappeared from the department break room.'

Kudos to the colleague pinning the spoons to the notice board! Brilliant.

This happens in my house! I have to replace spoons regularly 😂

Looking at the TT thread, that said they had dealt with death threats "before" - so I don't think they were part of the other GCRN/open letter cases mentioned.

WOW I just read about Almut Gadow's case. Yet another astounding Tribunal will be coming up. 🙁

@ickky I suspect that a few of the people we have heard from in this case may be involved in that one too.

No hard proof just a hunch after reading about the Almut's case and the witness evidence from this case.

Good luck Almut. We'll support you.

Just done a bit of gardening In Almut's patch. 🌷🪻🌹🌻

Thank you all, for the commentary, the entertainment, the wit, the songs and poems and the information.

thank you Jo, for your bravery and fortitude.

You’re all amazing, and clever, and hilarious.

<ducks back into the shadows>

I've got this nagging feeling that badges to label "undesirables" has been tried before somewhere.

Does a GC lesbian get a red triangle, a pink triangle, or both overlaid into a star?

Really? There must be levels of grievance. Criminal assault jumps to mind as surely more important than average. But other reasonable factors defining urgency are current vs more in the past, ongoing vS discrete, I can’t see how you could not prioritise them.

@Codlingmoths there are two distinct aspects. The first is what action do we need to take now e.g. suspension, involve the police, move people to different teams or workplaces etc. This should be done promptly and can take priority but can also see a grievance put on hold e.g. if the subject of the grievance is in custody for criminal
assault they can’t be interviewed by their employer.

The second is the investigation, decision and further action. This is likely to see each employees grievance given to a different investigating officer, decision maker etc. So they will proceed at the same time.

What you have to remember is an ER Case Manager will have grievances, disciplinary, managing attendance and performance management cases. Each will be at a different stage, following slightly different processes and will need varying levels of support.

Yes, Jo”s grievance took a long time but part of her grievance was against the 300+ signatories to the open letter. The OU decided to interview 22 people. That’s 22 interviews to timetable with the investigators, note takers, person being interviewed and their TU rep taking into account holidays, business and personal commitments, sick absence etc. It was a mammoth job and, based on the witnesses, like herding cats.

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · Yesterday 22:53

My extensive studies of Swedish swearing☆ suggest that 'Helvete' is used for 90% of situations, with 'Piss'

Yes, it's similar in Norway, "Dra til Helvete" is Go to Hell! They have pokker, which seems to be a catch-all "damn" type of thing and "Fi faen!" which is more or less Fuck's sake!

Northern Norwegians have a variety of animal genital expletives, such as "Hest cock," (horse cock) which was the subject of a court case, after some bloke said it to a Policeman. He won, after the court found it was typical everyday language for them!

It is indeed.

Damn, format fail...

While we're waiting ...

Has anyone else seen this employment tribunal report today? Fascinating stuff (though in parts confusingly written), especially as the 'male Christian' aspects actually seem less important overall than do the 'sabotaging' of a career elements.

The Panel described 'Evidence given by two Air Marshals and other senior RAF figures ... as “rehearsed, hollow and unconvincing”, which is quite a stand-out conclusion - and it wouldn't surprise me if Prof Jo Phoenix's Panel says something similar about the senior witnesses we've heard for the OU over the past week.

I can only see in the Telegraph so far, which is pay-walled, but it let me read it. (Or try Airplane Mode / archive . ph.)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/18/raf-officer-discrimination-scottish-christian-tribunal/

It is paywalled, but the Telegraph paywall is one of the easier ones to get past. Having read the article, I'm not sure of the relevance of him being Scottish, male or Christian other than that he appears to have thought that was why the RAF discriminated against him.

So, this is interesting. LSE published a letter in solidarity with the OU staff's open letter decrying GCRN. It has now been removed from their website but has been archived.

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210622141553/www.lse.ac.uk/gender/news/june-2021/Statement-of-Solidarity-with-Open-University-Staff-and-Postgraduate-Research-Students" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20210622141553/www.lse.ac.uk/gender/news/june-2021/Statement-of-Solidarity-with-Open-University-Staff-and-Postgraduate-Research-Students

Found this. Not paywalled. I can see a couple of parallels around procedure, protected acts, witnesses' credibility (even the ones with the Big Important Jobs), and the complainant's prior excellent career, having read through all 7 threads here and read a lot of TTs.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/raf-solicitor-with-sense-of-injustice-wins-claim-against-ministry-of-defence/5117579.article

@DirtyDuchess - good spot.

Great spot on that LSE letter. The delightful Jacob Breslow was in the department at the time wasn't he.

Bloody hell, that LSE letter - it's defamatory. And talk about projection ...

Apologies if I've missed this being explained, but which order will BC and JM speak in on Friday? (It must be standardised, right?) 11am start I saw; any guesses as to timing? I have/had v exciting plans for Friday which look like falling through :-( but if I could rearrange my life to be able to hear Ben that would be considerable compensation...

Employment Tribunal decisions are published here:
https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions

The Steele v MOD one was published 7 August so you can either search on Steele or scroll down a bit from the top as they are in date order.

It seems that the LSE had no trouble understanding the contents and intention behind the OU letter... unlike the OU witnesses who actually concocted and signed it 🙄

I wonder if any other universities issued the same solidarity?!

@prh47bridge re: Having read the article, I'm not sure of the relevance of him being Scottish, male or Christian other than that he appears to have thought that was why the RAF discriminated against him.
In a report I read he was mocked for his Christian beliefs and his Scottish accent after his new posting. (a base in Lincolnshire?)