Criminalize Witness Intimidation in Employment Tribunals

Sections 39 and 40 of the UK Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 proscribe acts designed to intimidate witnesses, and thereby to pervert the course of justice in ongoing criminal or civil proceedings. Section 41 of the Act lists the "relevant proceedings" covered by the act. Absent from the list of "relevant proceedings" are Employment Tribunal proceedings.

We believe that Parliament inadvertently erred when it left out Employment Tribunal proceedings from the list of "relevant proceedings" in the Act as written.

We also believe that Parliament fully intended for the Act to proscibe intimidation of witnesses in all bona fide criminal and civil proceedings, and that they therefore fully intended for it to be a crime to intimidate likely witnesses in Employment Tribunal proceedings, which are, indeed, civil proceeings having the full effect of British law.

We therefore call upon Parliament to amend section 41 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 to explicitly refer to Employment Tribunal proceedings as "relevant proceedings" in order that the language of the Act might be corrected to reflect its true and intended meaning.

In the interim, we call for all legal bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service, and all criminal and civil courts to recognize that the intent of Parliament was, most certainly, not to exclude Employment Tribunals from the list of "relevant proceedings" as set forth in the Act, and to take all reasonable measures to prosecute cases of witness intimidation under the Act with the same vigillance with which they apply resources towards the prosecution of cases of witness intimidation involving other criminal and civil proceedings that are explictly referenced in the language of the Act.