A medically qualified first-tier tribunal member has been issued with a formal warning for misconduct for making ‘two attempts at humorous comments’.
Dr Christopher Pearson, a medically qualified member of the social security and child support jurisdiction of the social entitlement chamber, apologised stating it was not his intention to cause offence.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) said that during a private discussion with two other tribunal members, Pearson ‘made two attempts at humourous comments which led one of the members to raise concerns with a leadership judge’.
A spokesperson for the JCIO said: ‘The senior president of tribunals, acting on behalf of the lord chief justice and with the lord chancellor’s agreement, has issued Dr Christopher Pearson, a medically qualified member of the social security and child support jurisdiction of the social entitlement chamber (first-tier tribunal), with a formal warning for misconduct.
‘Following an investigation…Dr Pearson’s chamber president concluded that one of his comments was sexist and derogatory to single mothers who have children by different fathers, and the other had racist and antisemitic overtones.
‘Dr Pearson stated that he had not intended to cause offence and was sorry for having done so.’
It was accepted that Pearson, who was appointed to the tribunal in 2012, had not intended to cause offence, was unlikely to repeat such conduct in the future and had a previously unblemished conduct record.
