Mrs Catherine Manley v Minsteracres Retreat Centre — 2023

Mrs Catherine Manley brought unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims against Minsteracres Retreat Centre. The tribunal found that, on 12 September 2022, she and Geoff Bockett agreed that her probationary period was 6 months, despite the unamended contract stating 3 months. The tribunal accepted Mr Bockett's contemporaneous probationary objectives email and file note as consistent with that oral variation, and found that the claimant understood herself to be under probation when she later raised concerns in January 2023.

The claimant relied on six alleged protected disclosures. The tribunal held that the 24 October 2022 email, the 16 January 2023 written and verbal disclosures, the 24 January 2023 email to Father Connelly, and the 31 January 2023 meeting did not amount to protected disclosures. In substance, those matters concerned inefficient booking systems, communication problems, staff relations, and embarrassment to the centre, rather than information which she actually and reasonably believed tended to show a breach of legal obligation, endangerment of health and safety, or deliberate concealment. The plenary statement at the January team-building event was found too vague and generic to amount to 'information', although the tribunal said that, if it had been a disclosure of information, her belief that it was in the public interest and related to staff welfare would have been reasonable.

The tribunal found that the reason, or principal reason, for dismissal was not the making of any protected disclosure but the claimant's negative reaction to the probation extension on 7 February 2023 and the respondent's view that she lacked insight and did not fit the working style of the small organisation. The earlier decision on 24 January 2023 to end employment was not implemented because the respondent decided to give her a further chance after the 31 January meeting. The wrongful dismissal claim also failed because clause 10 of the contract was not varied; once the claimant was dismissed within the probationary period, one week's notice was contractually sufficient and had been given. No monetary award was made.