Ms L Tudorica v Once Upon a Time Day Nurseries Limited — 2023

Ms L Tudorica worked as a nursery chef at the Respondent's West Drayton nursery from 2 August 2021 until her notice period ended on 15 June 2022. She had brought claims framed around protected disclosures, dismissal and wages. At the start of the hearing she accepted that she had been paid her notice pay, so her wrongful dismissal claim was withdrawn and dismissed on withdrawal.

The tribunal examined six alleged protected disclosures. It held that the first three were not protected disclosures because, although the claimant had raised concerns about the nursery's three-warning approach, crying children and how staff were handling situations, the tribunal found that these were either general expressions of opinion or disclosures that did not satisfy the public interest and relevant-failure elements. It found that the fourth, fifth and sixth alleged disclosures were either confined to the claimant's own daughter's care, were not made in the form alleged, or were made after the relevant decisions had already been taken. In each case the tribunal concluded that the claimant had not made a protected disclosure for the purposes of Part IVA of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The claimant's section 47B detriment claim failed for the same reason. The tribunal accepted that Emma Long told the claimant not to raise concerns about her daughter during the working day and to direct end-of-day questions to Emma Long, and that the claimant was asked to move her daughter's nursery placement. But it found those steps were taken to reduce disruption in the nursery, to stop heated hallway arguments, and because the Respondent considered the relationship between the claimant as a parent and the nursery had broken down. The tribunal found that the claimant's disclosures did not materially influence those decisions. The automatic unfair dismissal claim under section 103A ERA 1996 also failed because the tribunal found the reason for dismissal was conduct, namely the claimant's rude, abrupt and at times aggressive behaviour towards colleagues, rather than any protected disclosure.

The unlawful deduction from wages claim succeeded. The Respondent deducted £276.49 from the claimant's March 2022 wages for outstanding nursery fees, leaving her paid £308.51 from wages of £585. The tribunal found there was no statutory authority, contractual authority, or prior written consent for that deduction. It therefore ordered the Respondent to repay £276.49.