Information Commissioner Rules Register of Employment Tribunal Applications Must be Published

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ordered the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) to release the names and addresses of organisations involved in Employment Tribunal Cases, following a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

Between 1965 and 2001 this information was routinely published. However, the Government then decided to stop publishing the Register of Employment Tribunal Applications.

The DBERR had argued that releasing the information would prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs and was not in the public interest, maintaining that it would leave organisations open to direct marketing, could prejudice the chances of resolving disputes informally and could leave respondents at risk of unwanted damage to their reputation. However, the Deputy Information Commissioner concluded that “there is a very weak – if any – public interest in maintaining the exemption.” Employment Tribunals are open to the public and case details are normally in the public domain, unless there is a good reason for confidentiality. In his view, the public interest in maintaining the exemption did not outweigh the public interest in disclosing the requested information.

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