Mr K Meloy v University of Leeds Heard by CVP — 2022

Mr Meloy was a Health and Safety Manager in the University of Leeds' FEPS. After concerns about reopening the engineering buildings following the first lockdown, he sent emails on 20, 22 and 23 June 2020 about fire safety, water hygiene and air conditioning checks, and he suspended visits and operations when he said he had not received written assurances. The tribunal heard claims under section 44 ERA 1996, section 47B ERA 1996 and unfair dismissal, although the unfair dismissal claim was later withdrawn.

The tribunal accepted that Mr Meloy had been designated to carry out health and safety activities, but it held that the formal investigation and disciplinary process were not imposed because he carried out those activities or because he made protected disclosures. Its view was that those steps were about the manner in which he communicated, ignored Mr Veevers' instruction, and acted without prior discussion with management. The whistleblowing detriment claim failed for the same causation reasons, and the reputational-damage complaint also failed.

The tribunal did find that removal from his FEPS post in June 2020, and the later decision in January 2021 to keep him in a central services role, were detriments done on the ground that he had carried out health and safety activities. It treated the June 2020 move and the January 2021 decision as a series of similar acts, so the claim was in time because the last act was 14 January 2021. The section 44(1)(e) claim failed because the tribunal did not accept that he reasonably believed the danger was serious and imminent. The judgment records liability only and does not set out any monetary award.