Clandestine recordings

Chairman and Governors of Amwell View School v Dogherty UK EAT/0243/06/DA; NLJ 10 November

Mrs Dogherty was dismissed as a teaching assistant by the school for misconduct through her use of unreasonable force and inappropriate language. Before her dismissal, she was invited to attend disciplinary and appeal hearings, which were held in private. She caused the hearings, including those which members of the panels had deliberated in private, and open discussions with her during the internal proceedings to be recorded without the knowledge of any of those present. In her claim for unfair dismissal, Mrs Dogherty obtained a case management order (CMO) enabling her to adduce in evidence the unauthorised recordings she had made of the disciplinary and appeal panel hearings, including the private deliberations. The school appealed against the CMO.