21 Jul IPhone Recording Not Allowed in EAT

The EAT recently refused a preliminary application from a claimant in an unfair dismissal case to have the proceedings recorded by an Iphone App and said it would undermine the integrity of how they conduct hearings within an informal atmosphere.

The EAT confirmed the practice of not allowing EAT proceedings to be recorded electronically when a preliminary application was made by a claimant suing his former employer for unfair dismissal (UD 1066/2012 & MN 688/2012) to record the proceedings with an IPhone App.

The EAT confirmed that their own notes are the official record of proceedings and that it would be undesirable to allow electronic recording for the following reasons:

• the possibility of data protection breaches;
• potential security issues and misuse of recordings by other parties;
• the potential for witnesses to be intimidated;
• the potential for electronic recordings to be used to coach subsequent witnesses;
• the lack of editorial control of recordings.