Mr W Hazell (in person) For the v Miss T Vittoria (Legal advisor) — 2024

At the preliminary hearing on 10 October 2024, Employment Judge Perry considered Mr W Hazell's application for interim relief in relation to an alleged dismissal said to follow a protected disclosure. The hearing was held in public, with Mr Hazell appearing in person. The tribunal refused and dismissed the application, and did not decide the ultimate liability issues in the underlying claim.

The judge applied the interim relief framework under s.103A ERA and the s.129(1) ERA 'likely to succeed' test, referring to Raja v Secretary of State for Justice, Ministry of Justice v Sarfraz, Taplin v C Shippam Limited and Robinson v Sheikh Khalid Bin Saqr Al Qasimi. He said the claimant's task was difficult because the dismissal letter relied on a WhatsApp message that Mr Hazell did not deny sending, together with alleged breaches of confidentiality rules and the claimant's lack of insight into confidential information and how it should be treated.

The judgment records that Mr Hazell was a senior manager paid about £78,000 a year, with bonus, car and health insurance. The judge rejected the claimant's 'but for' approach, saying the causal link had to be shown by the disclosure itself rather than inferred from the dismissal outcome. He concluded that the claim was not merely unlikely but fell well short of the statutory threshold for interim relief. He also noted that, if a deposit order application had been made, he would have refused it because of the anticipated three-day length of the case and the additional cost and tribunal time involved.