The claimant was a self-employed barrister who brought complaints of discrimination, harassment and victimisation against her Chambers and various staff members. Following a liability hearing in January the ET dismissed all of her complaints and she appealed on five grounds but at sift, but only two passed the sift: that the Tribunal had misapplied s47 of the Equality Act 2010 by failing to recognise she was self-employed and; that ET had in self-directions had quoted s39 which applied only to employees.

The President, Lord Fairley, dismissed both grounds. On ground one, he noted s47 is simply the jurisdictional gateway enabling self-employed barristers to access the Act's protections which the tribunal had correctly recognised. The claims failed on the facts, not jurisdictional grounds. On ground two, the superfluous quotation of s39 did not lead to an error of law. Reading the reasons fairly, the ET had not treated the claimant as an employee.