Mrs Tiffany Simmonds v Mrs Sarah Bell — 2020

The tribunal held that Mrs Tiffany Simmonds had made qualifying public interest disclosures in or about 9 May 2018 to World Horse Welfare and the RSPCA about the condition of the horse Destiny's leg, and that she had previously raised the same concerns with Mrs Sarah Bell. It accepted the earlier preliminary findings that the claimant was a worker and that the disclosures satisfied ss.43A and 43G ERA 1996, so the remaining whistleblowing issue was whether Mrs Bell knew or believed that the claimant had made the disclosures when the engagement ended.

Applying s.48(2) ERA 1996 and NHS Manchester v Fecitt, the tribunal found that Mrs Bell was aware of visits from World Horse Welfare and the RSPCA before 17 May 2018, or at least knew or believed that the claimant was responsible for the reports, and that the termination of the claimant's engagement on the evening of 17 May 2018 was because of those disclosures. It rejected Mrs Bell's alternative explanations, including that the engagement was only short-term until a replacement was found and that later concerns about worksheets or saddles were the real reason for the termination.

Compensation for the detriment claim was assessed at £5,150 for loss of earnings from 18 May to 8 October 2018 and £3,000 for injury to feelings, the latter being placed in the lower Vento band. The tribunal also upheld the separate claims for holiday pay under regulation 16 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, awarding £1,442 for 28 days' leave at £51.50 per day, and for unpaid wages under s.13 ERA 1996, awarding £124.50 after reducing the claimed hours by £10 per day. It noted that state benefits totalling £4,711.38 were in issue for deduction from the loss of earnings award and that the £5,150 element would not be enforceable without further order pending written information.