Claimant v Havant and South Downs College
Outcome
Individual claims
The tribunal found that the police report made by Ms Berry was not closely connected to the past employment relationship. Ms Berry acted in a personal capacity, not in the course of her employment, and her motivation was to stop what she perceived as personal attacks on herself, not to retaliate for the claimant bringing tribunal proceedings or doing any other protected act. The tribunal found too many links in the chain between the employment relationship and the police report.
Facts
The claimant successfully brought race discrimination and constructive dismissal claims against her former employer in earlier proceedings. She subsequently posted on LinkedIn about her experiences, tagging a senior HR manager (Ms Berry) who had not been personally involved in the original discrimination. After multiple posts which Ms Berry perceived as personally attacking her with false accusations, Ms Berry reported the posts to the police as harassment in her personal capacity. The police immediately closed the report with no action taken.
Decision
The tribunal dismissed the victimisation claim. It found that Ms Berry's police report was not closely connected to the past employment relationship, as it occurred years after employment ended, was made in a personal capacity (not in the course of employment), and was motivated by Ms Berry's personal distress at being tagged in posts she believed were false attacks on her personally, not by the claimant's protected acts of bringing tribunal proceedings or posting about her experiences.
Practical note
Post-employment victimisation claims require a close connection to the employment relationship; actions by former managers in a purely personal capacity responding to personal attacks (not aimed at stopping protected disclosures) are unlikely to be attributable to the employer or sufficiently connected to the employment relationship.
Legal authorities cited
Statutes
Case details
- Case number
- 1405240/2023
- Decision date
- 30 January 2025
- Hearing type
- full merits
- Hearing days
- 3
- Classification
- contested
Respondent
- Sector
- education
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- barrister
Employment details
- Role
- English teacher
- Service
- 8 years
Claimant representation
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- solicitor