TCAP confirms that a judicial conduct complaint has now been submitted concerning Employment Judge James and the written judgment sent to the parties on 29 April 2026 in Employment Tribunal case 6019060/2024.
The complaint is not an appeal.
It does not ask the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office to overturn the judgment, reconsider strike-out, or decide whether the Employment Tribunal made errors of law.
The complaint concerns judicial conduct, language, tone and scope.
The complaint raises concerns that the judgment crossed from ordinary judicial reasoning into personally prejudicial, punitive, quasi-criminal and extra-jurisdictional commentary about a disabled litigant in person bringing a civil discrimination claim.
It also raises concerns about the judgment’s treatment of professional-regulatory matters concerning former counsel, including comments about the cab-rank rule and whether counsel had done anything wrong. Those matters had been raised with the Bar Standards Board. TCAP’s position is simple: Employment Judge James is not the Bar Standards Board.
The complaint also refers to the earlier 10 March 2026 Tribunal communication from Employment Judge T.R. Smith, including language describing the claimant as the “principle culprit” and reducing the claim to a complaint that the claimant “did not get a job”. That issue has already been raised separately. It is referred to in the new complaint as relevant context for the prejudicial framing later carried into the strike-out judgment.
Further concerns raised include the use of “harassment”, “intimidation”, “egregious”, “lack of remorse” and “impunity” language in a civil Employment Tribunal judgment, the treatment of disability-related participation issues, the decision to proceed in the claimant’s absence, and the punitive flavour of the costs reasoning despite the formal statement that costs are not punitive.
For clarity, TCAP is not asking the JCIO to act as an appeal court.
The issue is whether a public judgment in a civil discrimination case used language and commentary that fell below the standards expected of judicial office holders.
That question has now been placed before the proper body. Updates to follow.
Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project
Source List – Documents Held By TCAP
- Judicial Conduct Complaint Concerning Employment Judge James, July 2026
- Employment Tribunal Judgment, 29 April 2026
- Employment Tribunal Case 6019060/2024
- Tribunal Communication From Employment Judge T.R. Smith, 10 March 2026
- JCIO / JACO Correspondence Concerning Judge Smith Complaint
- Bar Standards Board Correspondence Concerning Wendy Miller KC