Member P McColl Tribunal Member A Shanahan Mr M Watson v Scotbeef Limited — 2021

The claimant, Malcolm Watson, brought a claim of automatic unfair dismissal under s.103A ERA 1996 based on emails sent on 21 August 2019 about an energy audit prepared by Mr Karol Wojcik for Scotbeef's Plan A and ESOS work. The Tribunal accepted that the claimant had raised concerns to Mrs Caldwell shortly before dismissal, but it found Mr Wojcik's evidence credible that his use of the phrase "made up" meant created rather than fabricated, and it rejected the claimant's account that he had been told the report was falsified or that Mrs Caldwell and Mr Galloway had instructed falsification.

On that evidence, the Tribunal held that the claimant had not proved a qualifying disclosure within s.43B ERA 1996. It found that he did not have a reasonable belief that the information tended to show wrongdoing, and it did not accept the accuracy of his notes or his timing evidence about the meeting on 21 August 2019. The Tribunal noted shortcomings in the respondent's documentation and process, but concluded that those did not alter the factual finding that the alleged falsification was not reasonably believed and therefore did not amount to a protected disclosure.

For completeness, the Tribunal said that if a protected disclosure had been made, the principal reason for dismissal would still have been Mrs Caldwell's view that the claimant had not delivered material cost savings in the role. It accepted her evidence, supported by Mr McKellar and Mr Kirkbright and by contemporaneous emails, that the role was focused on cost reduction and that there had been no appreciable improvement in East Kilbride's figures during the claimant's employment. The claim was dismissed in full and no remedy was awarded.