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A controversy has erupted over bogus quotes contained in the Employment Tribunal ruling in the Sandy Peggie case.
The original 300-page document contained material purported to be from another judgment from 2021 – the case brought by Maya Forstater against the Centre for Global Development Europe.
But the quoted text never appeared in that judgment, leading some to suggest that AI was used in the preparation of the Peggie judgment.
Ms Forstater told The Courier: “I know that judgment inside out, and I thought [after reading the NHS Fife judgment], those words are not there.”
Yesterday, Judge Sandy Kemp admitted the mistake after the newspaper reported the controversy.
Judge Kemp and the panel wrote in the judgment: “Secondly, there are different protected characteristics under the act but there is nothing stated specifically within the act itself, or the court’s decision, that one protected characteristic takes precedence over any other.
“In Forstater v CDG Europe and others UKEAT/0105/20 the Employment Appeal Tribunal had emphasised that: ‘It is important to bear in mind that the [Equality Act 2010] does not create a hierarchy of protected characteristics’.”
But this line was never in Forstater. To compound matters, The Telegraph reports that there was a second fabricated quotation in Judge Kemp’s original ruling.
Ms Peggie is appealing the judgment.