Nicholas Bidnell-Edwards has overturned an Employment Tribunal’s decision to strike out a claim for Whistleblowing Detriment, and automatically Unfair Dismissal

Nicholas Bidnell-Edwards has overturned an Employment Tribunal’s decision to strike out a claim for Whistleblowing Detriment, and automatically Unfair Dismissal

In Arthur v. Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, Appeal No: UKEAT/0121/19/LA the Employment Tribunal Judge (the “Tribunal”) chose to strike out the Claimant’s claims of Whistleblowing Detriment, and Automatically Unfair Dismissal on the basis that: i) the Claimant had no reasonable prospects of proving a link between her dismissal, and one of her disclosures, because it was not mentioned in the letter dismissing her; ii) that the information could not qualify as a protected disclosure, since the Respondent’s staff were already aware of the information disclosed; and iii) the disclosures were not the only reasons given for dismissal in any event.

Nicholas Bidnell-Edwards appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (the “EAT”), and succeeded in overturning the strike out judgment. In the EAT, HHJ Eady QC allowed the appeal on multiple grounds including that: i) the Tribunal had not kept the correct test in respect of causation in mind; ii) the Tribunal had been wrong to find there was no disclosure of information where the Respondent had already known of the matter disclosed; and iii) the Tribunal had not applied the “no reasonable prospects of success” test, but had reached conclusions on how it believed the case would develop.

25th Sep 2019

Nicholas Bidnell-Edwards

Call 2012