In person For the v Respondent — 2021

At the remote preliminary hearing on 14 May 2021, Employment Judge N J Roper dealt with the claimant's remaining claims after earlier age discrimination, race discrimination, breach of contract and other monetary claims had been withdrawn by the claimant. The tribunal applied the Rule 37 strike-out test on the papers and the parties' submissions, with no oral evidence heard.

The tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the freestanding human rights claim. It also struck out the direct discrimination claim based on the alleged philosophical belief that there should be mutual trust and confidence between employer and employee, holding that the asserted belief was not a protected philosophical belief under the Grainger criteria and, in any event, that the claimant had not shown the relevant treatment was because of that belief.

The remaining whistleblowing claims were also struck out. The tribunal found that the claimant's communications about the new contract and about being recalled from furlough were requests and objections rather than disclosures of information tending to show criminality or breach of legal obligation, and that they were not made in the public interest. It further found that the dismissal followed the 15 April 2020 email to Ms Bidgood, which the tribunal regarded as abusive, rather than any protected disclosure; the tribunal therefore struck out both the detriment claims under s.47B ERA 1996 and the automatic unfair dismissal claim under s.103A ERA 1996.