Claimant v Jaguar Land Rover Limited

The tribunal found the reason for dismissal was some other substantial reason: the claimant's inability to sustain efficient and regular service due to remand in custody for serious criminal charges. The dismissal was fair and procedurally reasonable. The respondent waited through multiple bail applications and gave the claimant opportunities to be represented. Dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses.

The tribunal found the reason for dismissal was not the claimant's protected disclosure. The decision-makers (Dean Jones and Georgina Washington) were not aware of the claimant's anonymous disclosure about tax fraud. The claimant produced no evidence that the disclosure was the reason for dismissal. The clear reason was his imprisonment on remand.

The tribunal found the claimant was not subjected to detriment because he had brought a 2017 tribunal claim or issued the third claim in 2023. Many alleged detriments failed on the facts. Those that occurred were not because of the protected acts. For example, the decision to dismiss was made by managers unaware of the third claim. The claimant did not establish a prima facie case of victimisation.

The tribunal found the claimant did make a protected disclosure in October 2022 about tax fraud, but it was made anonymously. The alleged perpetrators of detriments (Daniel Coward, Lee Bateman, Kenneth Wilkinson, Laura Thomas, Dean Jones, Georgina Washington) were not aware the claimant had made the disclosure. Therefore the detriments could not have been on the ground of the protected disclosure. The claimant did not establish causation.

The tribunal found that most alleged detriments failed on the facts (e.g. the sexual harassment complaint was not false, there was no detriment in seeing Jason Gilbert occasionally, no obligation to warn claimant). Where detriments occurred (suspension, investigation meeting, refusal of extended leave, dismissal), they were not done on the ground of the protected disclosure because the decision-makers were unaware of it. Reasons for treatment related to the sexual harassment allegation and the claimant's imprisonment.