Youth worker loses 54th employment tribunal in 10 years

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/30/youth-worker-loses-54th-employment-tribunal-in-10-years/

by StGuthlac2025

21 comments

  1. As the archive link doesn’t seem to be working :

    A serial litigant has been accused of using [employment tribunals](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tribunals/) to “get rich fast” after having his 54th claim rejected.

    Joseph Johnson, a youth worker, was criticised by employment judges after bringing a large catalogue of false discrimination claims to “cause disruption” and make a quick profit.

    His lawsuits had been so relentless that a judge sitting on his most recent case described his tactics as “litigation by attrition”.

    Mr Johnson, whose claims have mainly targeted youth charities and schools, has lodged 54 since 2016 but has not won any.

    Official records show that he has brought cases against a primary school, a charity supporting disadvantaged youths, a hate crime charity and a charity youth club.

    Mr Johnson’s latest employment tribunal, held in London, heard that he wanted to sue the London Borough of Harrow and an agency worker. But none of his claims were supported by any facts, the tribunal found.

    Employment Judge Tanveer Rakhim said that Mr Johnson was “targeting legal representatives who were simply doing their job”.

    # ‘Sophisticated litigant’

    Judge Rakhim said the way Mr Johnson brought the claim demonstrated that he was a “sophisticated litigant”.

    The tribunal said of a previous hearing related to this claim: “Employment Judge [Jamie] Anderson found [Mr Johnson] to be a serial litigant, engaging in litigation by attrition.

    “This litigation is a continuation of that pattern, targeting legal representatives and an agency worker in a personal and vexatious manner… This is now the 54th claim, namely the index claim before me.”

    Judge Rakhim said: “It is noted that [Mr Johnson] has not succeeded in any discrimination claim. Most of his claims have been struck out for breach of orders or failure to pay deposit orders. 

    “This supports the conclusion that the purpose of the claims is to cause disruption rather than to pursue genuine allegations.”

    # ‘A means to get rich fast’

    Mr Johnson, who is black, tried to sue Benthal Primary School, in north London, for sex and race discrimination in 2018. He started working for the school in 2014 and was the line manager of two women.

    After their working relationship deteriorated, he wrote a letter of appraisal that wrongly accused them of putting children’s safety at risk. This tribunal found the letter was “curt to the point of rudeness” and came across as “arrogant and authoritarian”.

    He was suspended from his position after just a year in the role after the school found he had created a link to school footage on his own YouTube channel, “which appeared to be part of a business venture set up for his own gain”.

    This was a safeguarding issue, and he was later dismissed from his role. His claims in this case were all dismissed.

    Mr Johnson also took Newark Youth London, a youth club, to an employment tribunal in 2024 for multiple claims, including discrimination, harassment, and victimisation. He had worked there for four months in 2023 and tried to claim ÂŁ70,000 at the tribunal for injury to feelings.

    He was unsuccessful, and Employment judge Laura Howden-Evans said: “[Mr Johnson] views employment tribunal proceedings as a means to get rich fast, rather than this being somebody seeking compensation for genuine harm caused by acts of discrimination.”

  2. Jesus wept, the comments on that article. Real classy even for the Telegraph.

    I presume nothing similar to a vexatious litigant applies to tribunals?

  3. It’s very hard to be declared a vexatious litigant in the UK, although this is getting close to the level where it might be considered.

  4. I bet he’s made a small fortune from settlements
. Scumbag

  5. I looked up one of the judgments, seems like a real classy fella

    > Having read the papers I observed to the Claimant that had noted that I had
    previously struck out a claim he had brought. He asked me whether it was the
    PureGym claim, and I said that it was. He then said “You are the racist and
    corrupt judge who heard the PureGym case and I have made multiple
    complaints against you and I have no interest in anything you have to say”. He then disconnected from the video link and took no further part in the hearing. I
    decided to continue the hearing in his absence.

    Edit: Adding link – https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/j-johnson-v-koka-community-projects-cic-and-w-judd-3201827-slash-2023

  6. 54 tribunal, 0 wins. The system _seems_ to be working. Though he’s wasting a lot of time and money.

  8. I’m taking my ex employer to employee tribunal and it’s bloody stressful time can’t imagine wanting to do that every other month 

  9. There needs to be a Scarlet List for people like him so they are absolutely unemployable

  10. It’s a worse record than the current Wolves team in the Premier League.

  11. How has be managed to get that may jobs? You would think any employer would google his name and see the judgement against him.

  12. Well now we all know who he is we can make sure he never finds work again. Parasite.

  13. My guess would be someone once told him that some entities will just pay to avoid litigation and nuisance lawsuits and he figures he’s bound to get one of those any day now

    What he’s apparently unaware of is that to do that you’re supposed to target big businesses that have money to burn and even then it’s really more a movie/TV thing than it is the norm. If it were the norm these businesses would be creating an incentive to sue them

    They only really do it when a lawyer tells them there’s a genuine risk of liability, like an employee who’s perhaps exaggerating a workplace injury

  14. Honest question – why wouldn’t you if you’re a minority?

    We had a black project manager that claimed discrimination.

    He wasn’t discriminated against, he was just useless and we’d let the CFO know the day he was hired.
    She refused to do anything about it, he passed the 2 year timeframe, we got rid of him the he claimed discrimination based on race.

    Walked out the door with 6 figures.

  15. Another legal litterer. He is abusing the fact the ET is no costs. Should lose access to the ET.

  16. The scary thing is by the law of probability given he has had 54 cases rejected he must have had cases where the employer has settled out of court with him to avoid a court case as the court only records the failures

    There needs to be an investigation into how many employers/organisations have paid out to him to avoid bad PR and a process begun to recover that money as if his main targets were organisations such as schools and charities related to children his action arguably have hurt children by depriving them of money

  17. “A means to get rich fast’
    Mr Johnson, who is black” Welp that’s bound the be the 55th loss he tries to claim for 😂

  18. “Mr Johnson, whose claims have mainly targeted youth charities and schools, has lodged 54 since 2016 but has not won any.

    Official records show that he has brought cases against a primary school, a charity supporting disadvantaged youths, a hate crime charity and a charity youth club.”

    Famously organisations that have money to burn then. Twat.

  20. He got the idea from Uncle Albert falling down the pub barrel hatch

  21. Jesus Christ. Surely that history should be made open to any new employer!

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