Mr Duncan Gordon v B & D Country Inns II Limited — 2019

The claimant, Mr Duncan Gordon, alleged that B & D Country Inns II Limited dismissed him because he had made protected disclosures about fire safety and the booking of the Cannon and Kisby rooms at Kingsclere. The tribunal found that he made protected disclosures on 19 July 2017, 4 August 2017, 11 August 2017, 16 August 2017 and 22 September 2017. It accepted that his complaint on 17 July 2017 was not sufficiently detailed to amount to a qualifying disclosure, but held that the later disclosures were made in the reasonable belief that they tended to show a failure to comply with legal obligations concerning fire safety, and that they were made in the public interest and to the employer under s.43C ERA 1996.

On causation, the tribunal found that the respondent did not react in a hostile way to the disclosures. It took the concerns seriously, met with the claimant, liaised with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, and amended the Fire Risk Assessment more than once, including after the grievance and appeal meetings. The tribunal accepted the respondent's evidence that the claimant himself had raised the possibility of leaving, including referring to an exit strategy and later indicating that resignation was a possibility. It found that by mid-October 2017 the claimant's disclosures had been resolved, but he still had not confirmed whether he wanted to stay or go.

Applying the s.103A ERA 1996 test and the authorities it cited, including Fecitt, Kuzel and Bolton School v Evans, the tribunal held that the principal reason for dismissal was not the protected disclosures, either individually or taken together. Instead, Mr Ross dismissed the claimant because, after 16 October 2017, he had failed to confirm that he wished to remain working for the respondent and the business could not wait any longer for a clear answer. The complaint of automatic unfair dismissal was therefore dismissed and no remedy was awarded.