More women accuse Leeds employment tribunal judge of bullying

Three more women have accused a judge of bullying during employment tribunal hearings.

They say Judge Philip Lancaster was belittling and intimidating and made them feel stupid while they presented their cases. One said she felt his behaviour in her case verged on psychological abuse.

The three women have spoken out following a BBC report in April in which five women accused Mr Lancaster of bullying and sexist behaviour.

A spokesperson for the Judiciary Office, which supports the judiciary across courts in England and Wales, said judges cannot comment on matters of conduct due to constitutional arrangements.

It said allegations of misconduct in court can be referred to the Judicial Conduct Investigation Office.

The three women all appeared before Judge Lancaster at the employment tribunal in Leeds between 2021 and this year.

In October 2022, Jackie Moore represented her daughter who had brought a case of constructive unfair dismissal and disability discrimination against her employer.

Ms Moore had spent two years preparing the case and had a number of preliminary hearings before different judges who she found “efficient and polite.”

However, she says none of that prepared her for the full five-day hearing she had before Judge Lancaster. She says he was “patronising” right from the start.

“He thought I wouldn’t have a clue.”

Ms Moore said the judge repeatedly snapped at her and “blocked or challenged” the questions she was asking the witnesses provided by her daughter’s employer.

She says she felt “battered, intimidated and bullied by him, throwing his weight about”.

When she read the accounts by other women who had appeared before the judge she realised she was not alone.

Employment tribunals are specialist courts that rule on disputes between employers and employees. There are about 30,000 hearings in Scotland, England and Wales annually, mainly involving issues such as unfair dismissal, redundancy terms and discrimination. Northern Ireland has a separate system.

In April BBC News heard allegations from five other women about Judge Lancaster’s behaviour. The women, who encountered him in separate cases, said they wanted to highlight his “degrading behaviour”, including what they said was “misogyny and bullying”.

Earlier this year, another woman spent seven days in a hearing before Judge Lancaster, having brought a case of age discrimination, constructive dismissal and unfair discrimination against her employer.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she felt “fully prepared” as she had spent well over a year working on her case, even attending other hearings in Leeds to see how litigants-in-person – people who represent themselves – were treated.

Again, she says her preliminary hearings had gone well. “Everyone allowed me to talk, nobody shut me down, nobody made me feel useless.”

That experience, says the 45-year-old, was in direct contrast to how she was treated by Judge Lancaster.

“He made my life hell,” she recalls. “He’d put his hands on his head, and appeared disinterested in what I was saying. He repeatedly asked why I was asking [my employer’s witnesses] particular questions and raised his voice numerous times. I felt useless.” She is now appealing the ruling.

Angela Gates brought a case of disability discrimination and constructive dismissal against her employer in 2021.

She says a hearing in front of Judge Lancaster made her feel “like a villain being prosecuted”.

She says: “I felt I couldn’t give my side on anything.”

The four-day hearing was held on Zoom, and Ms Gates, 53, says Judge Lancaster regularly shouted at her, repeatedly telling her to be quiet. She says his behaviour was “appalling and degrading, verging on psychological abuse”, adding: “I don’t believe I’ve been given a fair trial.”

In his judgement, the judge said he agreed with the defence’s description of Ms Gates as “tipping into paranoia”, saying this was not a criticism of her but “a fact, given her poor mental health”. Ms Gates says she found this grossly offensive.

“He has no medical training to reach that conclusion,” she says.

She appealed the judgement but didn’t complain about Judge Lancaster’s behaviour as, like many other litigants, “you are told not to complain on the grounds of bias”.

“You feel it will affect your case if you get personal about a judge.”

A spokesperson for the Judiciary Office said appeals can be lodged against any judgement where a party believes there is an error of law or they did not receive a fair hearing.

But bringing a complaint against a judge in the employment tribunal system is extremely difficult. Judge’s notes are regarded as the official court record but there is no obligation to release them. Since late last year, proceedings in some tribunals have been recorded but there is also no obligation on the court to release the audio or provide the claimants with a transcript.

One of the women who originally complained about Judge Lancaster’s behaviour, Alison McDermott, believes the judicial system is totally unaccountable.

“I’m fed up with this nonsense, the lack of transparency and fairness in a court of law in the UK,” she said. “The whole system is in urgent need of a comprehensive investigation.”