Employers – Feelings of Unfairness Cannot Justify Penalising Whistleblowers

Even employers who feel that they have been unfairly criticised have no excuse for targeting whistleblowers for detrimental treatment. An Employment Tribunal (ET) powerfully made that point in the case of a senior care worker who raised welfare and safeguarding concerns affecting residents in a…

Jan 06, 2023

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Even employers who feel that they have been unfairly criticised have no excuse for targeting whistleblowers for detrimental treatment. An Employment Tribunal (ET) powerfully made that point in the case of a senior care worker who raised welfare and safeguarding concerns affecting residents in a care home.

After making the disclosures, both to the care home’s owner and to public healthcare authorities, the woman was suspended. She resigned in the midst of a disciplinary process and launched ET proceedings.

Upholding her case, the ET found that she had made three protected disclosures in the reasonable belief that the information disclosed was substantially true. She had been subjected to various detriments – including her suspension – the imposition of which was materially influenced by her whistleblowing. In short, she was constructively dismissed because she blew the whistle.

The employer felt that the disclosures were tremendously unfair, but the ET had no hesitation in finding that it conducted itself in a manner calculated to damage or destroy the employment relationship of mutual trust and confidence and did so because she had the temerity to make protected disclosures. The employer thereby fundamentally and repeatedly breached her employment contract.

She did not receive the benefit of a proper investigation and the evidence indicated that the employer had no real interest in discussing her concerns or properly looking into them. The investigating and dismissing officers were one and the same and a disciplinary hearing had been conducted in an unprofessional manner that left her feeling humiliated. She was suspended without reasonable or proper cause.

The employer was ordered to pay her basic and compensatory awards in respect of her automatic and ordinary unfair dismissal, totalling £5,576. She was also awarded £16,875 for injury to her feelings.

Employment Tribunal Blasts Operations Manager’s ‘Sham’ Redundancy

Employers all too often assert that a worker’s services are no longer needed when the real reason for their dismissal has nothing whatever to do with redundancy. As one case showed, however, employment judges were not born yesterday and are always on the lookout for such shams. The case concerned the former head of operations of an advertising sales company. He worked long hours, often at weekends and during his holidays. He had a difficult relationship with his line manager, however, largely…

Skiing Company Fined After Boy’s Tragic Death at Birthday Party

An indoor skiing company has received a £100,000 fine following an accident in which a 12-year-old boy died. The boy was at a tobogganing party to celebrate a friend’s birthday. He was descending the main ski slope on a toboggan when it ran into the back of a member of staff who was conducting a slope walk. The member of staff fell backwards onto the boy, who tragically died at the scene from head injuries. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that the company had failed to…

Can COVID Scepticism Be a ‘Belief’ Protected Under the Equality Act 2010?

A significant minority of people – often referred to as ‘COVID sceptics’ – firmly believe that measures taken to control the virus are an unwarranted impingement on their personal freedom. The question of whether such beliefs can qualify for protection under the Equality Act 2010 was considered in a guideline employment case. The case concerned a warehouse operative who expressed the belief that COVID-19 testing is flawed, that face masks afford no protection against the virus and that…