Mr P Morgan, counsel For the v Respondent — 2021

The tribunal found that the claimant made protected disclosures to Mr Hogg of Hull City Council's SART team on 31 March 2020 about the first respondent claiming public money while staff were furloughed, concerns about reduced support for service users, and concerns about a clinically vulnerable service user. It held that these disclosures contained information, were reasonably believed to be in the public interest, and were reasonably made to SART in the circumstances.

The tribunal upheld the protected disclosure detriment complaints. It found that the claimant was blocked from work emails, subjected to a group-chat comment, invited to a meeting about alleged breach of contract, accused of retaining property, denied access to personal belongings, told communication was over, and threatened with defamation proceedings because of the protected disclosures.

The tribunal also found that the reason for dismissal was the protected disclosures, rejecting the respondents' stated reliance on Covid-19 or lockdown as the real reason. The pregnancy/maternity discrimination claim was dismissed because it was no longer actively pursued, and the notice pay and holiday pay claims were withdrawn and dismissed. The claimant was awarded a basic award, loss of wages and pension, injury to feelings for detriments, and a 25% ACAS uplift.