Whistleblowing: Supreme Court’s unfair dismissal ruling in Royal Mail case gives pause for thought


9th December 2019

Employment law expert Ian Jones looks at a case that should sound an alert for companies looking to dismiss staff for spurious reasons, especially in the context of whistleblowing. This article was first published in Personnel Today on 9 December.

In a whistleblowing case which proceeded through all four tiers of our civil justice system, the Supreme Court has considered whether, in a claim for automatic unfair dismissal, a manager’s disguised reason for dismissal could be considered by the employment tribunal rather than the reason of the appointed decision-maker, who was unaware of the background.

In determining this, the court concluded that, given the particular facts, the employer could be held liable for automatic unfair dismissal following the employee’s previous protected disclosures (whistleblowing), despite the fact that the dismissing manager was unaware of those disclosures.

The case is significant because there have been some conflicting comments in previous Court of Appeal decisions about whether it is only the facts known to the decision-maker that are relevant.

Click here to read the full article.

Contact us for expert advice on whistleblowing issues and employment tribunals.

Enjoy That? You Might Like These:


newsletters

10 July -
It's been another busy few months. The Government has published its eagerly anticipated roadmap for implementing the Employment Rights Bill and many of the high-profile changes such as day-one unfair... Read More

articles

4 July -
The Government laid its latest Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules before Parliament on 1 July 2025. It gives effect to many of the proposed skilled worker reforms outlined... Read More

articles

2 July -
Details of the eagerly anticipated Employment Rights Bill roadmap were published by the Government on 1 July 2025. The roadmap includes details of the phased consultation on key measures and... Read More