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
