Whistleblowing – the plot thickens

2 July 2024

In William v Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust [2024] EAT 58,  the EAT has agreed with the decision of the ET below not to uphold the Claimant’s whistleblowing detriment claim under section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 in circumstances where the person making the detrimental decision was unaware of the protected disclosures and therefore couldn’t have been influenced by them (Malik v Cenkos Securities plc UKEAT/0100/17/RN applied).

Similarly, in Nicol v World Travel and Tourism [2024] EAT 42, the EAT found, in a whistleblowing dismissal claim under section 103A ERA 1996, the decision maker subjecting the employee to dismissal must have knowledge of the substance of the protected disclosure made by the employee if the claim is to succeed.

The only caveat to this would appear to be that in whistleblowing dismissal cases (but not whistleblowing detriment cases) the Supreme Court has previously held (in Royal Mail Group Ltd v Jhuti [2019] UKSC 55) that the malign knowledge / mindset of a more senior manager can be ascribed to the innocent dismissing officer.


Authors

Daniel Hobbs

Call 1998

Related areas

Employment

Search

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and event updates.

Subscribe

Popular

16 April 2024

Chambers is delighted to announce that Head of Chambers, Jason Beer KC is one of only…

Discover more

14 February 2022

The first hearings of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry commenced today.  Previously a non-statutory…

Discover more

19 December 2023

A message from Head of Chambers, Jason Beer KC, looking back at the past 12…

Discover more

Portfolio Builder

Select the practice areas that you would like to download or add to the portfolio

Download    Add to portfolio   
Portfolio
Title Type CV Email

Remove All

Download


Click here to share this shortlist.
(It will expire after 30 days.)