PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 50034/99) against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a United Kingdom national, Olubukunola Obasa (“the applicant”), on 30 April 1999.

The applicant, who had been granted legal aid, was represented by Pedro Emmanuel Solicitors, lawyers practising in London. The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr I. Grainger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London.

The applicant alleged that the proceedings in which she claimed discrimination at work took an unreasonable length of time contrary to Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

The application was allocated to the Fourth Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1.

On 30 November 2000, the Court declared part of the application inadmissible and adjourned examination of the complaints relating to length of proceedings.

On 1 November 2001 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). This case was assigned to the newly composed Third Section. By a decision of 15 November 2001, the Court declared the remainder of the application admissible.

The applicant and the Government each filed observations concerning the issue of just satisfaction. The Court decided, after consulting the parties, that no hearing on the merits was required (Rule 59 § 2 in fine).

THE FACTS

The applicant, Olubukunola Obasa, is a United Kingdom national, who was born in 1961 and lives in Wellingborough.

The applicant commenced employment as a social worker with the London Borough of Islington (“the Council”) on 4 September 1989. In April 1991, she submitted a formal complaint to the Council's principal Equal Opportunities Officers alleging inter alia harassment and refusal of a promotion on grounds of race. She was interviewed by investigating officers in October 1991.

On 9 December 1991, the applicant presented an originating application to the Employment Tribunal alleging that she had been discriminated against as a black woman with a disability, inter alia, due to the decision to give a promotion to another employee instead of herself, the failure to transfer her to another post and the failure to assign her to a higher grade by giving due recognition to her professional qualifications. In her application, she relied on events going back to the commencement of her employment in 1989.

On 23 January 1992, one of the Council's investigating officers informed the applicant that her complaints had been found to be unsubstantiated. The applicant sought to appeal the rejection of her complaints pursuant to the Council's internal grievance procedure.

The Employment Tribunal held a hearing on 9 June 1992, at which the parties agreed that under section 68(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976, which required that complaints be presented within three months of the act complained of, the applicant could not rely upon events taking place before September 1990. Determination of the merits was considered to require detailed evidence and the matter was reserved for a further hearing.

On 24 June 1992, the Council made a request for further and better particulars of the originating application. The applicant replied on 24 November 1992.

While in the ordinary course of events the hearing on the merits would have been listed for hearing in the first half of 1993, the Council applied to the Employment Tribunal for the merits hearing to be postponed, on the grounds that it would be preferable to await the outcome of the applicant's internal appeal. The matter was adjourned, the applicant making no objection to this adjournment.

The applicant's internal appeal was heard by the Council on 28 April and 4 May 1993. By letter dated 13 May 1993, she was informed that her appeal had been rejected. However, with regard to the applicant's transfer request, the Council committee was concerned at the lack of evidence that any serious consideration was given to this matter and expressed the view that steps should be taken to find the applicant alternative work and to expedite her transfer. Pursuant to this decision, instructions were given to investigate options for a transfer. An offer of transfer was made to the applicant on 8 February 1994.

Following the determination of the internal appeal, the Tribunal resumed consideration of the applicant's case, listing the case for a merits hearing on 11-13 May 1994. The case lasted longer than anticipated by the parties and it was adjourned and re-listed. The Council had indicated to the Tribunal on 13 May that it would be possible to reach a negotiated settlement. In the event a settlement was not reached and the Tribunal re-convened on 7 November 1994 for a further four days.

On 20 December 1994, the Tribunal issued its decision, finding that there had been discrimination by her employer in a number of procedural aspects.

The proceedings were adjourned for the parties to reach agreement as to the damages payable. The Council had already met with the applicant's trade union representatives on 6 December 1994. Negotiations culminated in a meeting of 24 March 1995, in which the Council's legal representatives agreed a settlement figure with the applicant subject to the approval of the elected members of the Council. On 3 April 1995, the Council informed the applicant that their members had rejected their officers' recommendations and that no settlement was possible on the terms discussed. The applicant broke off the negotiations entirely the next day.

The Tribunal proposed listing the case in June 1995 but as these dates were not convenient for the Council and it appears that the applicant was not available in June 1995 the date was fixed for 11 September 1995. After a remedies hearing on that date, the Tribunal made the applicant an award of 24,952.51 pounds sterling (GBP), which decision issued on 9 October 1995.

The Council appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”). Its notice of appeal had been lodged on 27 January 1995, as it was required to be lodged within 42 days of the merits decision.

On 3 October 1995, an ex parte preliminary hearing was held by the EAT to determine whether the appeal had reasonable prospects of success. It ordered that the appeal should proceed to a full hearing and required the Employment Tribunal's notes of evidence to be disclosed. These consisted of some 50 pages. After their transcription, the EAT sent out a listing notice on 11 July 1996, giving a hearing date of 17 September 1996.

After the hearing, the EAT delivered judgment on 28 October 1996. It quashed the findings of discrimination.

On 12 December 1996, the applicant filed an application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Permission was granted by the Court of Appeal on 3 February 1997. The applicant lodged her notice of appeal on 11 February 1997. The bundles of documents were filed on 21 May 1997.

After a hearing, on 16 February 1998 at which the applicant was represented, the Court of Appeal rejected the applicant's appeal.

The Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal to the House of Lords on 19 March 1998.

On 27 March 1998, the applicant sought leave to appeal to the House of Lords. In her petition, she requested exemption under House of Lords Standing Order XIII from the lodgement fee as she was no longer in receipt of legal aid. In July 1998, the Appeal Committee of the House of Lords decided to waive the fee. The petition was then formally lodged in July 1998. The applicant supplied the transcripts necessary for the application on 30 November 1998. The House of Lords refused leave on 26 April 1999.