Prof Jo Phoenix vs The OU - Employment Tribunal Thread 8

[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

Ask for access link and pin and please give your name and address in the email as they check when you connect to the tribunal.

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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
CT - Catherine Tomlinson, Senior Student Advisor
DD - Dr Deborah Drake, Senior Lecturer Criminology, Head of SPC 2018-21😇
SD - Shaun Daley, Head OU’s Resourcing Hub. Head Strategic Resources, Co-Chair OU’s LGBT+ Staff Network
SJ - Samantha Jacobson, Employee Relations Case Manager
NS - Nicola Snarey, Assoc Lecturer Eng Language - This witness did not give evidence.

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

Thread 7
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4922765-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-7

Congratulations Jo. I've been reading the comments under articles and they're in awe at your personal courage.

Well done Jo, my tiny turnip planting was for a good cause.

As P&S staff who has recently taken vser after 20 years, at a place where boundaries are no longer a thing, I feel for you. You have been so brave. I only had an incident in the toilets where I left, but went outside before going back to my office as it had my name on it, and I was scared that he would report me to HR for leaving if he followed me back. I was on the 5th floor.

@JoPhoenix What these old things? Thats the best bet

I hope you get a good payout. Not that that can heal the hurt, but still. I was planning on signing up for a course there but in all good conscious, can't.

The OU appealing will be just about the same as the SNP considering appealing the self-ID block.
Look where that got them.

Thank you so very much Jo for all that you've done.
I hope you can Joe begin to heal the trauma they caused you. And bloody take them to the cleaners and Sue their arses off, of course.

Congratulations Jo! Great to see you here and well done on Woman's Hour

I keep seeing people writing about 'the Phoenix judgment' and think how awesome and substantial it sounds. Money well spent!

Congratulations, Jo! And to hear you on Woman's Hour as well was a special treat today. 🍾

I am so pleased to see this result. I followed the hearings closely on here and tribunal tweets. Some of the evidence was unbelievable. The OU were very poorly advised to put forward so many (poorly prepared) witnesses.

Jo, if you are still reading, I am a litigator and I know how gruelling litigation can be. Well done for holding firm and going the distance. It can't have been easy. You have obtained a significant victory that vindicates you and protects GC people everywhere.

Hi Jo, I'm really happy for you and so glad that you've got some measure of justice, after years of Hell. True justice would be for your bullies to be sacked and drummed out and for every penny of your costs to be paid by them.

Huge congratulations to Prof Jo Phoenix, what an ordeal.

I read most of the judgement and was struck by one of the early paragraphs noting that Prof Westmarland had also applied for the Chair in Criminology and that 'there had been tension between her and the Claimant as a result' (paraphrasing). How much of what followed had its roots in that initial dislike?

And we should all note that WhatsApps are definitely not private!

Listening to Woman's Hour and realising that men really do hate us.

@JoPhoenix I'm in awe of your bravery. Well done and thank you.

This is a timely article on free speech, censorship and hypocrisy

https://thecritic.co.uk/free-speech-and-fashionable-hypocrisy/

@IcakethereforeIam thanks for that link & the 2022 meeting re HR staff, I wasn't aware of that. I work in HR in the sector and it's so difficult constantly monitoring what you say, how you say it, and who to. Especially now knowing UCU are on a witch-hunt to find HR and other professional services staff with GC beliefs (clearly in order to hound us out), irrespective of how those beliefs are expressed in actions in our jobs.

As for the judgement, just wow. I've read a fair few in my time and of course witnesses are found to have lied/embellished/suddenly have selective memory loss etc But not many Judgements have such a high score in the sheer number of witnesses whose evidence has been "called into question" by the ET and the amount of times they 'find' for the Claimant.

Glad that my gardening has helped to get justice. Funds are tight so only able to add a small amount but it adds up and is so worth it

@ElizabethBlackwell The behaviour of the UCU is disgraceful. It's been discussed on these boards before but I'm always horrified afresh when I see it laid out. I hope one day they'll have their reckoning.

The win did not make the BBC news site in any way. Make of that what you will. (Did make woman’s hour OFC)

Perhaps the UCU will go through their own tribunal at some stage to make them realise that they can’t ignore WORIADS judgements 🤷‍♀️

I would take back some of my mortgage overpayments to help fund that.

Yes, I looked for it, in vain.

I’m halfway through reading the judgement. I keep having to stop and pause it is so emotionally draining.

I cannot imagine what it was like for Jo actually living through it, first in real time, then again reliving it in tribunal.

Thank you for your courage in seeing it through. I’m glad you were able to gather your strength and walk back into that courtroom. That decision will have a lasting affect for women.

I'm so sad for the letter signatories that none of them has reflected and thought to contact JP with an apology. (Not one of the 350+ if I understood JP on the WH section correctly.)

I don't know if they feel that they can't if the university is considering an appeal (although that would have involved a communication to that effect).

Maybe they just don't know what the tribunal has said. Unlike us, how many have read the escoratiating judgment?

Maybe they just don't know what the tribunal has said. Unlike us, how many have read the escoratiating judgment?

i would imagine that it is like the savage mind podcast, and jkr’s essay, and anything kjk has said. Not engaged directly by listening or reading themselves, but rely on someone else who claimed they have and told them what to think about it.