United Kingdom / Court of Appeal, civil division / A2/2014/4129

Kiani v Secretary of State for the Home Department
Policy area
Employment and social policy
Deciding body type
National Court/Tribunal
Type
Decision
Decision date
21/07/2015
  • United Kingdom / Court of Appeal, civil division / A2/2014/4129

    Key facts of the case:

    The appellant (C) was an employee who appealed against a decision stating that he was not entitled to disclosure of the reasons for his dismissal from his role as immigration officer. Before the initial tribunal C had brought an unfair dismissal claim alleging discrimination on race and religious grounds as no reasons were given for his dismissal. The secretary of state claimed this was on the basis of reasons of national security. The tribunal made interim orders to exclude C and his representatives from closed interlocutory hearings, to prevent disclosure of secret materials and to appoint a special advocate. C claimed this was not compatible with Article 6 of the ECHR but the tribunal held that it was. C appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal stating that the focus should be on EU law jurisprudence, in particular ZZ v Secretary of State for the Home Department (C- 300/11), rather than ECHR jurisprudence.

    Outcome of the case:

    The answer to the question was negative and the appeal was dismissed. The Court of Appeal submitted that, in the light of Article 6 (2) TFEU and Articles 27 and 52 of the Charter, it would be remarkable if there were a material difference between the general approach taken by ECHR and EU law in relation to such an important issue of procedureal justice. According to the Court of Appeal, the CJEU, in ZZ v Secretary of State for the Home Department, was not enunciating a universal principle of EU law which applied in the same way regardless of context and the CJEU made clear that it was interpreting Articles 30 (2) and 31 of Directive 2004/38.