Tribunal Privacy and Judgment Publication Practices

​Request 729185275

Dear FOI Officer,

Freedom of Information Request – Tribunal Privacy and Judgment Publication Practices

Under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, I am requesting information about the handling of privacy, redaction, and/or anonymity requests within the Jersey Tribunal Service (Employment and Discrimination Tribunal).

Specifically, I request the following:

1. Policy and Procedure

Please provide a copy of any internal policies, guidance, or protocols that relate to:

Responding to a party’s request to anonymise, redact, or withhold their identity or personal data from a published judgment.

The process for deciding whether to publish or not publish a judgment online.

​2. Volume of Requests and Outcomes (Past 5 Years)

How many parties to Tribunal proceedings have made requests for:

Anonymity

Redaction

Non-publication of the resulting judgment

Of these requests, how many were:

Approved

Denied

Not recorded or not responded to

3. Post-Publication Action

Is there any mechanism for individuals to request that a judgment be redacted, anonymised, or taken down after it has been published?

How many such post-publication requests have been made, and what was the outcome in each case?​

4. Equalities and Data Protection Consideration

Has the Tribunal received guidance or training in relation to:

Handling requests from vulnerable, transgender, or mentally distressed litigants?

The Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 as it applies to Tribunal publication practices?

If so, please provide details or copies of such material.

Response​

1. Policy and Procedure

All the Procedures and Regulations governing the Jersey Employment and Discrimination Tribunal are listed and linked from the Tribunal website on this page under the heading “Procedures and regulations” near the foot of the page:

Employment and Discrimination - Courts.je​

The relevant sections of these laws are:

• Article 90 of the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003​ which provides that the Tribunal always sits in public unless it makes an Order whilst following the procedure provided in the Article.

• Article 32 of the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal (Procedure) (Jersey) Order 2016 which provides the procedure for the Tribunal to restrict disclosures of information brought before it.

• Article 41 of the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal (Procedure) (Jersey) Order 2016​ which requires the Judicial Greffier to maintain a register of all Tribunal judgments and that a judgment must be maintained on the register for a minimum of 10 years.

2. Volume of requests and Outcomes

A search in the Judgments section of the JLIB website www.jerseylaw.je​ for the phrase (in quotes) "Article 32 of the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal (Procedure) (Jersey) Order 2016" will find all of the cases where an application was raised under Article 32:

Query across all judgments for Article 32 EDT(P)(J)O2016​​

3. Post-Publication Action​

The Tribunal procedures and regulations referenced above only provide a procedure for restricting disclosure of information from a Tribunal hearing while all parties are engaged with the matter. This is so the principle of open justice​​ and the Convention ​right​ of freedom ​of​ expression​​ (Article 9 of the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000) can be properly weighed against the privacy rights engaged by the request to restrict disclosure. This procedure is via the Tribunal making an Order under Article 32 of the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal (Procedure) (Jersey) Order 2016​,​​

4. Equalities and Data Protection Consideration

Mandatory training for all staff includes “DEI – Diversity Equity and Inclusion” and “DEI – Sexual Harassment Awareness” and “Corporate Data Protection”. These courses are provided online by the Connect People system available to all States of Jersey employees.

It is the Tribunal itself acting in its judicial capacity that makes all decisions to limit publication of personal information in judgments and it does this under Article 32 of the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal (Procedure) (Jersey) Order 2016​ which requires appropriate weight be given to the principle of open justice and the Convention right of freedom of expression as well as the privacy rights engaged.