A BARRISTER-led investigation into allegations of bullying and harassment made against Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner was suspended again.
Business Secretary and Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch, intervened and halted the investigation.
Badenoch wrote to the EHRC asking it to determine whether due process was adhered. A separate review into the initial leak is being carried out.
In February, Baroness Kishwer Falkner was originally under investigation as a result of accusations made by several employees over a hostile work environment.
After information about the case was leaked to Channel 4 News in May, the external barrister’s investigation into Lady Falkner was put on hold.
The officials confirmed to Channel 4 last week, that the probe was re-opened.
Former EHRC commissioner Lord Shinkwin, a proponent of disability equality, demanded that “this flimsy inquiry be called off”.
The Conservative peer, who suffers from brittle-bone disease, characterised Lady Falkner as “a person of unimpeachable integrity”, adding that the inquiry was distracting from work she wanted to do to champion disability equality.
“It’s very unfair on her and the EHRC and disabled people,” he said.
In a letter to the government, some board members expressed their frustration at being “bypassed in some crucial decisions” and that they had “lost patience”.
They stated that they intended to request that the investigators, Alasdair Henderson and Eryl Besse, step down from their positions as Lady Falkner’s deputies.
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