Section 33 of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 is a little known and seldom used provision that the courts can use to prohibit individuals from making any further applications to any Employment Tribunal.

Known as a Restriction of Proceedings Order, this power is only ever brought to bear where an Employment Tribunal is certain that an individual has, persistently and habitually and without any reasonable grounds, made vexatious claims against a number of respondents.

Recently, such an order was granted against a Ms Ann McCluskey. According to the Court, Ms McCluskey had made “a plethora of unsuccessful and mostly unarguable and hopeless litigation since 2004″.

The list of claims she had made was indeed lengthy, including 12 Employment Tribunal applications, 31 EAT appeals and an application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. The “ever more fantastic” targets of her claims included past employers and trade unions, and later a firm of solicitors, the President of Employment Tribunals, the President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Regional Chairman, an assortment of administrative assistants at the Tribunal, the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s Office, an M.P., and even the local council and police force.

In coming to its decision to prohibit Ms McCluskey from making any further claims in the future, the Employment Appeal Tribunal made it clear that it has to balance the right of individuals to access the courts against the need to conserve the resources of the court and prevent time being wasted by frivolous or vexatious claims.

In summation, the EAT stated: “In the circumstances of this case we conclude it is appropriate to make an order that remains in force indefinitely. We have no confidence whatever that the Respondent has learnt anything from the constant warnings she has received, and the only way in which her continued abuse can in our judgement be prevented is by imposing a filter on a permanent basis.”

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