Ms S Messi v Precise Media Monitoring Limited (T/A Onclusive) — 2023

Ms S Messi applied for interim relief under section 128 Employment Rights Act 1996 in relation to a complaint that she had been automatically unfairly dismissed for making protected disclosures. Employment Judge Heath heard the application remotely on 21 February 2023 and dismissed it. The judgment concerned only interim relief; it did not determine the final whistleblowing dismissal claim.

The claimant was engaged on a fixed-term contract as an Accounts Payable Executive from 25 July 2022 to 31 January 2023. The tribunal noted that she presented an earlier tribunal claim on 11 January 2023 and then, on 20 January 2023, presented this claim seeking interim relief. The judge recorded that on 20 January 2023 the claimant sent emails with audio files of covertly recorded telephone calls to a wide internal and external audience, after which Ms Parmar sent an email suspending her on pay and stating that she remained in employment. The tribunal did not accept that the claimant was likely to show that this suspension email was in truth a dismissal.

On the interim relief test under sections 128 and 129 ERA 1996, the judge applied the authorities cited in the reasons, including Taplin, Sarfraz, Hancock v Ter-Berg and Chesterton v Nurmohamed. The tribunal concluded that the claimant was not likely to establish that any dismissal occurred on 20 January 2023, and was also not likely to show that 31 January 2023 was not the effective date of termination if the fixed-term contract expired on that date. The judge further found that the claimant was not likely to succeed in showing a qualifying protected disclosure made in the public interest, describing the complaints as appearing to be largely about her own pay, data protection and related grievances.

The tribunal also found it not likely that any dismissal was because of protected disclosures. It noted the planned transfer of work overseas, the claimant's circulation of covert recordings, and material in the bundle suggesting conduct that could amount to gross misconduct or conduct damaging trust and confidence. For those reasons, the interim relief application failed and was dismissed.