ORJ Secures £9,500 for Whistleblower

ORJ secured damages of £9,500 for an employee who was subjected to detriment having made a protected disclosure contrary to Section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The Facts of the case were as follows:

• Our client resigned her employment with her employer, B Limited in March 2017 in order to take up a new job at a different employer.
• At the time of leaving our client raised concerns by way of letter to B Limited detailing her concerns of a failure to comply with its legal obligations and that the health and safety of individuals was being put at risk (a protected disclosure).
• In June 2017, our client applied for a new job and was offered the role subject to satisfactory references.
• B Limited was asked to provide a reference to our client’s prospective employer and duly did.
• As a result of the reference provided by B Limited the job offer to our client was withdrawn due to an unsatisfactory reference.
• B Limited had previously in February 2017 provided a positive reference about our client.
• Our client raised a grievance with B Limited as to the difference between the two references and that the only plausible reason for such a difference between the two references was as a result of having made a protected disclosure in March 2017.

Our client issued a claim in the Employment Tribunal for detriment as a result of having made a protected disclosure in that B Limited had provided an inaccurate and untrue reference that had caused our client detriment by the loss of employment as a result of the inaccurate and untrue reference.

Following months of litigation in this matter, this case was settled through ACAS

If you have any questions on whistleblowing or providing references for former employees please contact our CEO Patrick Tedstone patrick.tedstone@orj.co.uk who will be happy to advise you further.