Miss Negar Vasfi v PRC Architecture and Planning Limited — 2023

The claimant, Miss Vasfi, was employed by PRC Architecture and Planning Limited as an Associate Architect from 1 April 2022. She was told on 10 January 2023 that her employment was being terminated with immediate effect, with a final employment date of 10 February 2023. She presented her ET1 on 15 February 2023 and applied for interim relief on the basis that she had been automatically unfairly dismissed for making protected disclosures.

The tribunal considered three disclosures relied on by the claimant, all made in emails to Mr Nugent in December 2022. These concerned, respectively, window distances and fire safety compliance, inconsistent planning and tender drawings for external windows and doors, and the need to update cills and elevations. Applying the interim relief authorities, including Taplin, Sarfraz and Chacko, the judge concluded that the claimant had a good chance of establishing that the disclosures were made to her employer, that she believed they tended to show breaches of legal obligations or likely breaches, that her belief was reasonable given her expertise, and that the disclosures were made in the public interest.

The application failed on causation. The tribunal was not satisfied that the claimant had shown a high degree of likelihood, significantly above 51%, that the tribunal hearing the full claim would find that the reason or principal reason for dismissal was the protected disclosures. The judge noted that the dismissal decision would require careful consideration and that the respondent had accepted the legitimate nature of the concerns raised in the emails, but at the interim stage the causation threshold was not met. The application for interim relief was therefore dismissed, and no remedy was awarded in this judgment.