Claimant v The Riverside Group Limited (formerly One Housing Group Limited)

The tribunal found that the claimant made a protected disclosure under ERA s43B(1)(b) regarding the failure of his employer to comply with legal obligations relating to financial accounting and management. However, the claim failed on the allegation that the disclosure concerned health and safety endangerment due to the line manager's alleged intoxication, which the tribunal did not find credible.

Although the claimant made a protected disclosure, the tribunal found that none of the alleged detriments were caused by or on the ground that the claimant had made a protected disclosure. The tribunal found that the various acts and failures were either not detriments, or were motivated by genuine performance and conduct concerns unrelated to the whistleblowing.

The tribunal found that the reason for dismissal was not the protected disclosure. The decision to dismiss was based on the breakdown of the claimant's relationship with his line manager, performance concerns, conduct concerns, and the claimant's sickness record. The tribunal concluded the dismissal was inevitable by 12 February 2020, before the protected disclosure was widely known, and the COVID-19 lockdown provided the catalyst for the final decision.