Whistleblowing/Public interest disclosures

New and updated

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Whistleblowing: complaint about line manager's rudeness to colleague not "in the public interest"

  An employment tribunal has struck out whistleblowing claims brought by an individual who argued that he made a protected disclosure when he complained that his line manager had been rude to a colleague. The claimant did not reasonably believe that he was making the disclosure "in the public interest".

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Whistleblower reasonably believed concerns over accounting irregularities affecting 100 senior managers' payments to be "in the public interest"

  The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that allegations about accounting malpractices that affected the bonuses and commission of 100 senior managers were made in the reasonable belief that they were in the public interest.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Whistleblowing: police officer dismissed for taking matters into his own hands

  In DLA Piper's latest case report, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that a police officer who made protected disclosures was dismissed after taking matters into his own hands and becoming difficult to manage because he was not satisfied with the action taken following the concerns that he had raised, and that he was not dismissed for blowing the whistle.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Whistleblowing: Protected disclosure can be made up of several communications taken together

  In Norbrook Laboratories (GB) Ltd v Shaw EAT/0150/13, the EAT held that a worker had made a protected disclosure within the meaning of s.43B(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, by warning of the danger of sales representatives being required to drive in heavy snow. This was a disclosure of information tending to show a risk to health and safety and went beyond a mere assertion or expression of opinion. The fact that the disclosure was made through three separate emails to two different people did not alter the fact that a protected disclosure had been made.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Case round-up

  Amanda Steadman is a professional support lawyer and Ed Gregory, Rosie Kight and Joanne Magill are associate solicitors at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Supreme Court gives limited liability partner whistleblowing protection

  The Supreme Court has held that members of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are "workers" for the purposes of whistleblowing legislation.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Whistleblowing: emails to different individuals taken together may amount to a qualifying disclosure

  The Employment Appeal Tribunal agreed with an employment tribunal that emails sent by the claimant taken together were capable of amounting to qualifying disclosures, even though the emails were sent to different individuals in different departments.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Whistleblowing employees fairly dismissed for disclosing concerns to the media

  In this case, a charity fairly dismissed two whistleblowing employees for the manner in which they had raised their concerns.

• Type:

  FAQs

  What is a public interest disclosure?

• Type:

  FAQs

  To whom can a worker "blow the whistle"?