The Claimant, who had been employed by the Respondent as a solicitor for more than five years, resigned and brought various claims in the ET, including for direct race discrimination, victimisation, protected disclosure detriment, unlawful deduction from wages and unfair constructive dismissal. The ET rejected all of her claims, and the Claimant appealed on grounds (1) that there was a procedural irregularity, in that one member of the ET fell asleep or appeared to do so for parts of the hearing, and (2) challenging the conclusion that she was not constructively dismissed.

The EAT held that it was bound to conclude that the alleged conduct of the member of the ET was found to have occurred, thereby affecting the fairness of the overall hearing. Further, even though it did not need to, the EAT would have remitted for fresh consideration the question of whether the Claimant was constructively dismissed. Accordingly, the appeal was successful and all matters would be remitted to a fresh ET.