O’Brien v Department for Constitutional Affairs, [2008] EWCA Civ 1448, [2008] All ER (D) 224 (Dec)
Recorders are part-time judges in the Crown or County Courts. Most are in full-time practice as barristers or solicitors. Some have left practice and hold full-time positions as, for example, district judges. The claimant had been a part-time recorder until March 2005. He and a number of other part-time judicial office holders brought proceedings before the employment trial, claiming protection against discrimination pursuant to the Regulations, which were intended to implement the Part-time Workers Framework Directive 97/81/EC. Regulation 17 provided that they did not apply to any individual in his capacity “as a holder of judicial office if he is remunerated on a daily fee-paid basis”. The claimant submitted that reg 17 had to be disapplied because the direct effect of the Directive did not permit a provision of that kind.
The tribunal considered that the claim had been brought out of time, but that it would be just and equitable to extend time. The defendant appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The issue
