EAT Practice and Procedure : Striking-Out/Dismissal – VICTIMISATION DISCRIMINATION – Protected disclosure
1. Claims based on protected disclosures were struck out at a Preliminary Hearing without evidence being heard, on the basis that the disclosures, though highly relevant to the Claimant, could not be matters of public interest in the Claimant’s reasonable belief.
2. The Employment Judge was wrong to strike out the claims. It is reasonably arguable that the Claimant, even if she is the principal person affected, reasonably believed the complaints she made to have been in the wider interests of employees generally, or in the wider public interest she identified. Whether that is so is a question of fact.
3. Accordingly, there are disputed facts on the question of public interest in this case that should not have been determined without hearing evidence.
Simler DBE P J
[2016] UKEAT 0272 – 15 – 2201
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 14 January 2022; Ref: scu.562525