Mr L Bronze, Counsel For the v Respondent — 2020

Mr S Rae resigned on 15 July 2020 after a meeting on 13 July 2020 about his performance and work during furlough. The tribunal found that he had done only a very small amount of furlough-period work, largely voluntarily, and that he was not reprimanded for failing to work harder. When he said that working during furlough was illegal and that he was not comfortable, the tribunal treated that as a response to the discussion rather than a protected disclosure made in the public interest.

The tribunal accepted that the follow-up letter dated 13 July 2020, which referred to a first formal warning, was sent in error. It also found that several steps in the contractual disciplinary policy had not been followed. Even so, it held that there was no repudiatory breach and therefore no constructive dismissal: the meeting was amicable, the claimant did not raise the warning point before resigning, and the policy breaches were not, singly or together, serious enough to show that the respondent no longer intended to be bound by the contract.

On whistleblowing, the tribunal held that the claimant had not made a protected disclosure because there was no sufficient basis to find that he reasonably believed the remark about illegality was in the public interest. Even if the remark had been protected, the tribunal found no causal link between it and the warning letter, the later solicitor letters of 4 November 2020, 9 February 2021 and 19 June 2021, or the termination of employment. The constructive dismissal, automatic unfair dismissal and detriment claims were dismissed, and the remedy date of 6 May 2022 was vacated.