Ms A George v Drs Athos, Beyzade, Brown, Chung, DeSouza and Nichol (t/a Clerkenwell Medical Practice) — 2020

The claimant worked at the Clerkenwell Medical Practice from July 2016 as a receptionist/administrator. The tribunal accepted that Ms Estabrook's management style was loud and direct and that the working environment in the small office was noisy and not ideal, but held that those general conditions did not of themselves amount to a breach of trust and confidence. It also accepted that on 9 March 2018 Ms Estabrook reacted unacceptably and swore at the claimant in front of others, which the tribunal regarded as humiliating, and that a nickname had been used for the claimant by colleagues, although she did not complain about it and continued working.

The claimant relied on the events of 26 October 2018, when she was told that high-priority workflows should have been dealt with earlier and left work after the exchange. The tribunal found that Ms Estabrook's conduct on that occasion was not unreasonable or blameworthy in context, although her anger may have been conveyed in her tone. It held that the March incident, the nickname and the October incident, taken together, still did not amount to a fundamental breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. It also found that the claimant had decided to look for another job after the October incident and, in any event, had continued working until March 2019.

On whistleblowing, the tribunal held that the claimant's reference in her 21 January 2019 grievance to a delayed urine-dip task for a child was not a qualifying disclosure under section 43B(1) ERA 1996. It found that she raised the matter as part of a grievance about how she was treated, not because she believed it disclosed a public-interest health and safety issue or a legal breach. The tribunal further found that the alleged detriments were not caused by any protected disclosure. Both the whistleblowing detriment complaint and the constructive unfair dismissal complaint were therefore dismissed, and no monetary award was made.