Mr Piotr Gruszka v 1) Linear Recruitment Limited 2) Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited — 2022

This was a record of an open preliminary hearing. The Employment Judge recorded that no findings of fact were made and that the view on the merits was provisional only, based on submissions and limited documents. The claimant, Mr Piotr Gruszka, had worked for Linear Recruitment Limited as an agency worker supplying Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited from 16 December 2019 until 21 May 2021.

The claimant had pleaded holiday pay / unlawful deduction of wages and Working Time Regulations claims, together with a series of section 47B Employment Rights Act 1996 detriment complaints said to arise from protected disclosures made on 21 December 2020, 6 May 2021, 14 May 2021, and additional emails of 22 December 2020. The Tribunal held that the claims against the Second Respondent had no reasonable prospect of success and struck them out, because the claimant did not identify evidence that R2 knew of the disclosures or instructed R1 to terminate the engagement.

As to the First Respondent, the Tribunal struck out the complaints that R1 prevented annual leave before 21 December 2020 and provided incorrect annual leave information before that date, because those alleged detriments pre-dated the first protected disclosure. The claimant's holiday pay / unlawful deduction claim and the Working Time Regulations claim against R1 were not struck out, because the documents did not establish whether the claimed days had in fact been paid or what the correct entitlement was.

The remaining whistleblowing complaints against R1 were allowed to proceed, including the allegations about annual leave information after 21 December 2020, preventing annual leave after that date, suspension without pay, and termination of the engagement on 21 May 2021. The allegation that R1 fabricated or used false evidence to justify termination was not struck out, but the Tribunal considered it had little reasonable prospect of success and made a £50 deposit order, with further particulars to be provided. The Tribunal therefore left the main R1 whistleblowing case, and the holiday pay and Working Time Regulations claims, to be determined at a final hearing.