The test of bias

Lodwick v Southwark LBC CA TLR 9 April

The applicant’s claim for unfair dismissal came before a tribunal whose chairman four years previously had made adverse comments about the applicant’s conduct at another hearing in which he represented a party as a trade union representative. The chairman refused the applicant’s request that he should stand down in the present case because of the risk of bias. The tribunal not only dismissed the applicant’s claim but ordered him to pay £4,000 costs. On appeal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal and that the case ‘did not have the beginnings of a bias appeal’.