(1) Mrs Pamela Reynolds (2) Mr John Reynolds v Fordbank Limited and 1 other — 2023

The judgment of 22 March 2023 by Employment Judge Camp was a strike-out and deposit order in proceedings brought by Mrs Pamela Reynolds and Mr John Reynolds against Fordbank Limited and Mr Andrew Reynolds. The tribunal struck out all and any complaints against Mr Andrew Reynolds except for one complaint that he, and through him Fordbank, subjected the first claimant to a detriment for making a protected disclosure by causing solicitors to send a letter dated 17 June 2022. It also struck out all and any complaints under or relating to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 apart from claims for underpaid wages being advanced as unauthorised deduction claims under the Employment Rights Act 1996, and struck out all complaints under the Working Time Regulations 1998.

On the protected-disclosure complaint, the tribunal said the alleged disclosure was the first claimant, as company secretary of the first respondent, complaining about her own pay to the second respondent, who was a director of the first respondent and her brother-in-law. It considered that complaint to have little reasonable prospects of success because the claimant was very unlikely to persuade the tribunal at a final hearing both that she believed she was making a disclosure in the public interest and that any such belief was reasonable.

The tribunal had previously issued a proposal to strike out and a proposal to make a deposit order, invited objections by 11 March 2023, and recorded that none were received. It therefore ordered the first claimant to pay a deposit of £1,000 by 17 April 2023 as a condition of continuing to advance the protected-disclosure detriment complaint, and to notify the tribunal and the respondents by 18 April 2023 whether the deposit had been paid.