Mr D Howard v The Governing Body of Kilmorie School and 1 other — 2021

Mr D Howard, a teaching assistant, was dismissed on 17 January 2019 after the respondents concluded that he had been involved in sending an anonymous text message to parents from a SIM card he had purchased on 5 September 2017. He claimed that the dismissal was because he had made protected disclosures at a meeting on 20 July 2017 with senior staff, and he also brought an unfair dismissal claim.

The tribunal rejected the claimant's account of the alleged disclosures. It found that he did not, on 20 July 2017, make the disclosures he alleged about the Mosque visit, SATs attainment levels, or Equality Act-related staffing concerns. The tribunal relied on the lack of contemporaneous follow-up, inconsistencies in the claimant's account, and the absence of persuasive evidence that the alleged statements had been made. It therefore found that there was no protected disclosure and no whistleblowing detriment claim succeeded.

On the unfair dismissal claim, the tribunal accepted that the respondents genuinely believed the claimant was guilty of misconduct. It found that the police traced the SIM card used for the text message to the claimant's purchase, that he admitted buying the SIM card and said he did not object to the content of the message, and that the message was sent to parents in breach of the ICT e-safety and acceptable use policy and the data protection policy. Although the investigation was limited, the tribunal held that it was reasonable in the circumstances given the claimant's admissions.

Applying the statutory fairness test, the tribunal concluded that dismissal was within the range of reasonable responses open to a reasonable employer. It dismissed both the unfair dismissal claim and the protected disclosure claim. No monetary award was made.