The Claimant was the Branch Secretary for the Greater Glasgow Unite Community Branch. He made a complaint to the Union alleging, amongst other things, that he had been subject to “bullying, discriminatory and sexually harassing behaviour” by another member of the Union. The Union dismissed the complaints and instead found evidence to suggest that the Claimant had been malicious or vexatious in his complaint. He was expelled from the Union. He appealed to the Certification Officer, saying that it was a breach of Unite rules and natural justice for a member of the committee which raised the initial concerns, initiated the investigation into those concerns, confirmed that the investigation found the concerns to have foundation and to then have gone on to participate in hearing the case concerning those concerns. His appeal to the Certification Officer was unsuccessful and he appealed to the EAT.

The EAT allowed the appeal. The Certification Officer erred in law by failing to consider and apply the relevant law to the question of whether the disciplinary process adopted in this case gave rise to an appearance of bias by way of pre-determination.