Mr T Carolan, in person For the v Mrs M Morton, solicitor — 2024

The claimant had presented unfair dismissal and sex discrimination claims on 12 January 2024. On 20 May 2024 he applied to amend the case to add whistleblowing detriment and automatically unfair dismissal for making a protected disclosure, and to add Mr Coward and Mr Shepherd as respondents. He relied on an alleged oral disclosure on 24 September 2022 to Mr Shepherd about complaints by Jake Allen and others concerning Mark Lutitt, and about Mr Allen speaking to a competitor.

The tribunal applied the Selkent and Cocking amendment approach and held that the proposed whistleblowing case was a wholly new cause of action. It found the detriment aspect was out of time because the last alleged detrimental act was the dismissal and the time limit expired on 20 April 2024, while the claimant had the relevant facts by March or April 2024 and could have applied earlier. On the merits, the tribunal considered the alleged disclosure to be about internal employee complaints and a sales manager considering a move to a competitor, and held that this did not make out a strong case that the information was in the public interest or showed breach of legal obligation by the respondent.

The tribunal also found the proposed whistleblowing case had poor prospects of success and that the balance of prejudice and hardship favoured the respondent. It refused the amendment and dismissed the application to add Mr Coward and Mr Shepherd, noting that the remaining ordinary unfair dismissal claim could still refer to the reappointment of Mr Allen and the appointment of Mrs Shepherd as part of the claimant's case.