In person For the v Respondent — 2019

The claimant brought this second claim against McGinley CEP Limited and Mr Moss alleging detriments under s47B ERA arising from protected disclosures made in May 2016, including alleged failures to send him work after McGinley learned of the disclosure. The judgment records that an earlier claim against Hill Partnership, McGinley and Orbital had settled for £5,000, and that a later claim about settlement negotiations had also settled with no compensation.

The tribunal held that Employment Judge Pritchard had already decided on 11 December 2017 that the claimant was a relevant worker issue and that McGinley was not a relevant employer within s43K ERA. Because the relationship between the parties had not changed, the tribunal treated that decision as res judicata and said the issue could not be reopened in this case. The tribunal also referred to the need for any challenge to proceed by appeal rather than by re-litigation.

In any event, the tribunal said it would not have reached a different conclusion on the merits. It found that McGinley operated as a finding agency, did not have a contractual relationship with the claimant, did not determine the terms on which he worked, and had no control over whether he was appointed to jobs. On that basis, McGinley was not an employer or an agent of Hill Partnership acting with Hill's authority for the purposes of s47B ERA, and there could not be such a relationship between the claimant and Mr Moss. The second claim was therefore struck out and dismissed, and no compensation was awarded.