Mr. T. Howes v Thanet District Council PUBLIC PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2024

At a public preliminary hearing, the tribunal considered whether the claimant had made protected disclosures and whether elected councillors were workers or agents of the respondent. The claimant's ordinary unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims were not determined at this stage and were left to proceed to a final hearing.

The respondent accepted that the five alleged disclosures were disclosures of information and that the claimant genuinely believed Mr Willis had acted dishonestly and fraudulently. The tribunal found that, viewed objectively and taking account of the claimant's qualifications, seniority and experience, it was not reasonable for him to believe that Mr Willis had acted fraudulently or dishonestly when Mr Willis had explained that he used the available EKPeople expense category because no fitting category was available.

The tribunal also recorded the parties' agreement, and found, that councillors doing delegated work were agents of the respondent. Because the alleged disclosures did not attract statutory protection, the protected disclosure detriment and whistleblowing unfair dismissal claims were dismissed.