Mr KF Watson Mr R Taggart Mr J Hood v 20 Joseph Gallagher Limited and 2 others — 2018

The case arose from Mr J Hood's removal from the Shieldhall Tunnel project in Glasgow after an incident on 4 July 2017 when he was asked to leave Gate B to do a litter pick. He brought an automatic unfair dismissal claim under section 103A ERA 1996 against Joseph Gallagher Ltd and detriment claims under section 47B ERA 1996 against Costain Limited and Vinci Construction Grands Projets UK. The tribunal also noted that he lacked two years' continuous service, so an ordinary unfair dismissal claim was not available.

The tribunal found on the balance of probabilities that Mr Hood did not make the alleged protected disclosures to Mark Burrows or Gary Rodgers. It preferred the respondents' account, supported by independent witnesses Mr Flanigan and Mr Carlile, and treated the absence of any contemporaneous reference to health and safety in the claimant's later texts, appeal emails, ACAS contact, and subsequent correspondence as significant.

In any event, the tribunal held that any such statements would not have been qualifying disclosures because Mr Hood could not reasonably have believed that leaving the gate to do a litter pick would endanger health and safety or involve a breach of legal obligation. It found that a trained traffic marshal remained at the gate, that the request was made at a relatively quiet time, and that one marshal would have been sufficient under the relevant procedure. Applying the objective approach to reasonable belief referred to in Korashi v Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board [2012] IRLR 4, the tribunal concluded that the claims failed and were dismissed. The hearing was converted to liability only, so no remedy was awarded.