Mrs E Ratcliffe v Donna Woodruff — 2019

Mrs Ratcliffe applied for interim relief under ss.128-132 Employment Rights Act 1996 after alleging that her dismissal on 25 April 2019 was because she had made protected public interest disclosures. The tribunal recorded that it was common ground that the named respondent, Donna Woodruff, was not the employer and that the correct employer was Fairways Care Limited. The claimant had been employed at Ty Cariad Dementia Care Centre as an Activities Coordinator from February 2019.

For interim relief purposes, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had a "pretty good chance" of proving two disclosures: a report about staffing ratios and resident safety, and a report that a resident had been kissed by a staff member in circumstances that might amount to assault or sexual assault. Applying the guidance in Chesterton Global Ltd v Nurmohamed, the judge also accepted that she had a pretty good chance of showing a reasonable belief that those matters were in the public interest and fell within the protected disclosure regime.

The application failed because the tribunal was not satisfied that it was likely to find, at a full hearing, that the principal reason for dismissal was the alleged disclosures. The respondent denied knowledge of the disclosures and relied on evidence that the claimant had been rude, disruptive and negative, including conduct said to have occurred at the 25 April meeting. The judge considered there was no direct evidence linking the disclosures to the decision maker and concluded that the claimant did not have a "pretty good chance" of proving the necessary causal link, so interim relief was refused.