5 EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4105297/2020 Interim Relief Hearing Held by Cloud Video Platform (CVP) on February 2021 Employment Judge - A Strain Mr D Robertson v Represented by: Ms L Neil Solicitor Glencairn Crystal Studio Limited — 2021

The Claimant applied for interim relief in relation to an automatic unfair dismissal claim under s.103A ERA 1996. The tribunal first dealt with the history of the ET1, found that the original rejection for lack of an ACAS Certificate was wrong in the context of an interim relief application, extended time under Rule 5, and accepted the original ET1. That procedural issue was determined separately from the substantive whistleblowing allegations.

Applying the interim relief authorities, including Taplin v C Shippam Ltd and Ministry of Justice v Sarfraz, the tribunal approached the matter on a summary basis and asked whether the Claimant had a pretty good chance of success at a final hearing. It concluded that threshold was not met. The tribunal recorded a clear factual dispute about the alleged oral disclosures, noted that the Claimant's evidence was in some respects vague and imprecise, and said some of the alleged disclosures appeared to be statements of intent or requests for reassurance rather than qualifying disclosures of information.

As to the email material, the tribunal said it could not identify content amounting to a qualifying disclosure of information about what was happening within the Respondent's premises or any relevant failure within s.43B ERA. It therefore could not at this stage find that the Claimant had a pretty good chance of proving that he made qualifying protected disclosures, or that any such disclosures were the principal reason for dismissal. The application for interim relief was refused, and the substantive claim was left to be determined at a final hearing.