Dr Claire Methven O’Brien, a civil liberties lawyer, has launched an employment tribunal case against the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC). Her solicitor, Margaret Gribbon, confirmed that Dr O’Brien alleges she was harassed because of her views on sex and gender.

The specifics of the case have not yet been disclosed. However, Dr O’Brien previously wrote about the underlying dispute in a Holyrood magazine article last year. She described raising objections in October 2022 shortly after joining the SHRC to then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s proposals allowing trans people to self-identify their legal gender.

Dr O’Brien, who holds a readership in law at the University of Dundee, said she had asked the commission to revisit earlier submissions it had made to the Scottish Parliament on the reform bill. Those submissions had described the legislation as a meaningful advance in protecting the human rights of trans people in Scotland.

According to Dr O’Brien, her request was rejected by colleagues, and she subsequently faced complaints from both SHRC staff and fellow commissioners.

Her tribunal case follows a significant legal victory last year for the campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS), which successfully argued before the UK Supreme Court that “woman,” as defined under the Equality Act, refers to biological sex. That ruling came after the UK Government had already intervened to block Sturgeon’s self-ID reforms, citing concerns about women’s safety.

A spokesperson for FWS said the group had long suspected the SHRC of functioning as “a de facto wing of the Scottish government,” suggesting it prioritised political alignment over acting as an impartial defender of human rights – including rights the group described as inconvenient for the commission’s “political paymasters.”

In response, an SHRC spokeswoman said the organisation was “cooperating fully with the tribunal” but declined to comment further while proceedings remain ongoing.