EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND)5 Case No: 4102262/2020 Preliminary Hearing Held in Chambers on April 2021 Employment Judge - A Strain Dr Claire McGonagle v Represented by Ms S Shiels Solicitor Argyll and Bute Integration Joint Board and 4 others — 2021

At the preliminary hearing on 27 April 2021, Employment Judge Alan Strain considered whether allegations in the claimant's further and better particulars under the NHS Recruitment (Protected Disclosure) Regulations 2018 were new claims against the Third to Fifth Respondents, or instead formed part of the existing case against the Second Respondent. The Respondents argued that the Regulations did not create personal liability for individual workers and that any such allegations required amendment. The Claimant argued that the ET1 already pleaded a Regulation 9 vicarious liability claim against the Second Respondent and that the further particulars merely expanded that case.

The tribunal accepted that all parties agreed the Regulations do not provide for personal liability of individuals such as the Third to Fifth Respondents. It held that the ET1 gave fair notice of a claim against the Second Respondent on a vicarious liability basis, and that the further and better particulars did not introduce new claims under the Regulations against the Third to Fifth Respondents. Because no claims were brought against those individuals under the Regulations, the alternative question whether such claims had no reasonable prospects of success was irrelevant. The judgment was entered on 11 May 2021.