EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case no 4100500/2021 (V) Held remotely by means of the Cloud Video Platform on 1, and November 2021 and February 2022 (deliberation day) Employment Judge W A Meiklejohn Tribunal Member Ms M-C Macfarlane Tribunal Member Dr S Singh Mr W MacGregor Corps Monitoring Ltd v Represented by Mr R Lawson Solicitor — 2022

The claimant, Mr W MacGregor, raised concerns by email on 21 June 2020 about the CMC and attached two documents. The tribunal held that the separate complaint of unlawful detriment under section 47B ERA 1996 had been withdrawn before the hearing and dismissed it. In its protected disclosure analysis, the tribunal found that the claimant made protected disclosures about the Yorkshire site incident and the alleged falsification of NSI audit data, but not about the more general allegation that Mr Fulton had withheld critical information.

On the section 103A claim, the tribunal accepted that the disclosures triggered the events that followed, but found that they were not the reason, or principal reason, for dismissal. It held that the relevant reason was the breakdown in working relationships within the CMC management team, including the claimant's allegations, Mr Fulton and Mr Smith's counter-allegations, and the failure of mediation to be accepted. Mr Hill concluded that, from a business perspective, the claimant should leave rather than Mr Fulton or Mr Smith.

On ordinary unfair dismissal, the tribunal held that the breakdown in working relationships was a potentially fair reason amounting to some other substantial reason. Applying section 98(4) ERA 1996, it found that the respondent acted reasonably in the circumstances: it investigated the claimant's concerns, gave him an opportunity to comment, explored mediation, considered whether there was alternative employment elsewhere in the group, and offered an appeal. Both the automatic unfair dismissal claim and the ordinary unfair dismissal claim were dismissed, and no monetary award was made.