Revocation of anonymity order for Claimant who made a false allegation of sexual assault

In Z v Commerzbank AG and ors, the EAT has upheld an employment tribunal’s decision to revoke an anonymity order backed by restricted reporting orders that had been made earlier in proceedings to protect the claimant’s identity.  The tribunal below had revoked the orders after finding that the Claimant had falsely made sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations against a female colleague (one of the respondents).

Once the tribunal found that the claimant’s allegation had been fabricated, it was entitled to revisit the privacy orders under its general case management powers in rule 29 of the Tribunal Rules 2013 on the basis that there was a material change of circumstances. Furthermore, its decision to revoke the orders was sound.

Moreover, the tribunal correctly conducted the required balancing exercise under rule 50 of the Tribunal Rules 2013. It placed substantial weight on the public interest in the author of a dishonest account being identified, against the lack of any countervailing argument based on the claimant’s Article 8 rights to privacy.

Transcript: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2024/11.html

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Authors

Victoria von Wachter

Call 1997

Daniel Hobbs

Call 1998

Related areas

Employment

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