Ms G Hyde v The Secretary of State for Justice — 2020

The claimant was employed by the respondent as a prison officer and made an agreed protected disclosure on 5 March 2017 after reporting that she had witnessed an assault on a prisoner. She later alleged that colleagues and managers subjected her to detriments because of that disclosure, including being ostracised, unsupported, affected by Facebook posts, and treated adversely during sickness absence and grievance processes. The tribunal rejected the individual detriment allegations on their facts or found explanations unconnected with the protected disclosure, and it was unable to attribute the Facebook posts to serving employees acting in the course of employment.

The respondent had conceded disability for the purposes of the proceedings by reason of depression and anxiety. The tribunal dismissed the section 15 claim, finding among other matters that the claimant was not prevented from returning to full-time hours while on sickness absence, that the respondent had not failed in the pleaded way to provide work updates or vacancy information, and that she was not told on 7 June 2018 that she would be dismissed. The harassment claim also failed: the tribunal found that home visits and telephone contact during absence were connected with welfare and absence management, were within acceptable frequency, and were not shown to have the alleged purpose or effect.

The tribunal considered the allegations cumulatively as well as individually. It accepted that the claimant was anxious about the consequences of reporting the incident and that some aspects of management communication could have been handled better, including use of the word "impartial" by her line manager. Viewed objectively, however, it found that the respondent behaved properly, offered support, and sought to reassure the claimant that she had done the right thing. As no repudiatory breach was established, the constructive unfair dismissal claim and the automatic unfair constructive dismissal claim also failed.