Whistleblowing

Case 8: The facts

Miss Roberts, a nurse, was dismissed on grounds of gross misconduct. She said the real reason for her dismissal was the she had made a number of complaints which qualified as “protected disclosures– under the whistleblowing provisions of the Employment Rights Act, and claimed unfair dismissal on these grounds. (Roberts did not have the one year’s service necessary to claim unfair dismissal for any of the ordinary reasons.)

A tribunal dismissed her claim, concluding that the 20 complaints of misconduct against her were the reason for her dismissal.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld the tribunal’s finding. It rejected Roberts’s argument that she had not been given the chance to rebut her employer’s accusation that she had made the complaints in bad faith, as this accusation had been stated in a number of the employer’s documents.

The tribunal had found that, while one of Roberts’s complaints did amount to a protected disclosure, that she had made false allegations against another nurse.

Roberts v Valley Rose Ltd t/a Fernbank Nursing Home UKEAT/0394/06