EAT Victimisation Discrimination – Protected disclosure – PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE
The Claimant claimed to have made four protected disclosures and both to have suffered detriment and dismissal as a consequence. The Employment Tribunal held that the first disclosure, made to a person other than the employer, was not protected: it had not been argued that it was, under section 43C(1), as it might have been, but under section 43C(2) and did not meet the factual requirements of that subsection, although the former subsection had been mentioned in additional information added to the ET1. This was held neither to fall foul of the principle in Segor v Goodrich Actuation Systems Ltd nor would discretion be exercised to permit the argument on appeal (Glennie v Independent Magazines (UK) Ltd applied). The detriment suffered by the second disclosure (suspension) was held out of time. It had not been argued that it was within time. It was (see Tait v Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council), but discretion would not be exercised to permit this argument either, not least because the Employment Tribunal had gone on to consider the cause of the suspension and found it had nothing whatsoever to do with making the disclosure relied on; and in any event given this latter finding the appeal could not succeed in any event. The third disclosure was rightly held not to be a disclosure of information, and although there was room to doubt whether the fourth was the same (Employment Tribunals had to take care to ensure they did not fall into the trap of thinking post-Cavendish Munro v Geduld that an alleged disclosure had to be either allegation or information, when reality and experience taught it might well be both), it had been held not to be a qualifying disclosure because it did not tend to show a breach falling within 43B(1); the statutes relied on at appeal to suggest it was provided only that public bodies were obliged to establish a framework for dealing with issues of child safeguarding, and there was nothing about the information (if it was indeed information) that showed a breach of those arrangements or asserted a specific duty resting upon the person against whom the allegation arising from the information was directed. Appeal dismissed.
Langstaff J
[2016] UKEAT 0260 – 15 – 2601
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 14 January 2022; Ref: scu.562522