The Claimant resigned and claimed unfair constructive dismissal. The ET hearing was conducted over MS Teams and the ET found that the Claimant had been unfairly dismissed. The Respondent appealed on the basis that the EJ had been biased.

The EAT allowed the appeal. There were times when the EAT had to conclude that the informed, reasonable observer would indeed consider there was a real risk of bias. This was not limited to a particular part of the case (for example, to the question of mitigation of loss), but also manifested itself in the EJ's interventions when the respondent's witnesses were giving evidence. The ET judgment was set aside and the case remitted to a fresh ET.