Jo Phoenix’s employment tribunal victory raises a “series of challenges” for UK universities dealing with similar cases, according to lawyers, with parts of the judge’s view seemingly at odds with the sector’s direction of travel on free speech.
The criminology professor last month won her case against her former employer, the Open University, after claiming that she had been subjected to harassment and discrimination by colleagues because of her gender-critical views.
Annie Powell, a partner at Leigh Day who represented Professor Phoenix at the tribunal, told Times Higher Education that the key lesson universities should learn was that they cannot stay silent and must intervene when their staff come under attack.
She said a strong statement from the OU at the time that it would “not accept bullying and harassment in relation to these beliefs and will take action when we find these things have happened” might have swayed the tribunal in a different direction.
