Whistleblowing not recognised by former employer

[Retromau5]

Hello, back in October 2022 I made a disclosure to my regional manager about wrongdoing in my workplace by my colleagues, and one of the points I raised was that some staff were not wearing safety equipment as required, despite me raising my concerns to my manager. At the time the regional manager described it as 'whistleblowing' and an investigation was launched. I was interviewed in December about it and then heard nothing regarding it until February this year, when I received an investigation decision letter which described it as an independent investigation. I questioned why it was not being being looked at as whistleblowing anymore, and was told that that it was looked at as a grievance and that I "should concidering that as a good thing" by the new regional manager as the original one had retired.

I then learned that during the investigation my colleagues had all raised grievances against me, which resulted in more investigations, and me being ultimately dismissed in June(not before they tried twice with a without prejudice settlement offer first though) . I have repeatly tried to get them to explain the why it wasn't viewed as whistleblowing but have not had a response. I am now facing a potential tribunal process and I am a little lost to say the least, as during the investigation there was a a breach of GDPR on the companies side regarding sensitive personal data belonging to my wife, so I'm trying to run a complaint and through the ICO against them as well. If anyone has any thoughts on this I'd be very grateful.

[PallasAthena]

I'm not clear what reason was given for your dismissal in June this year.

What does you dismissal letter state is the reason for your dismissal?

[Retromau5]

Referring to a colleague as a sociopath, and have a platonic relationship with a colleague. These are gross misconduct offences to the company, and not in line with their code of conduct.

[PallasAthena]

Thanks,

Tagging ULA

[ULA]

So a couple of initial questions:

1. How long have you been employed
2. Did you appeal the decision to dismiss you
3. What potential claim are you considering making for which you need to go submit a claim to ACAS via Early Conciliation
4. whistleblowing is typically about wrongdoing at work which must be in the the public interest, meaning it must affect others, for example the general public. Would this be the case with what you whistleblew on back in Oct 2022.

[Retromau5]

Hello and thanks for the response. I'll answer the questions one by one.

1. I had been with the company 8 and a half years at the time of my dismissal.
2. I did not appeal the dismissal on the ground that all mutual trust and Confidence had been broken by their actions.
3. The potential claims I am concidering are unfair dismissal due to a protected disclosure being recognised, and disability discrimination as I had been affected by mental health problems for over a year with little support from them (lack of duty of care).
4. The disclosure Iade was that other members of the team would not water safety equipment (safety shoes, gloves, eye protection etc) when required for tasks, putting their safety at risk.

[Retromau5]

And early conciliation has been attempted, but the company did not engage.

[ULA]

Thank you for the responses to my questions and my comments are:

1. Thank you for confirming your length of service

2. Ideally you should have completed the internal process and appealed the decision but you have the potential of using the mutual trust and confidence had been broken by their actions argument, if you can set out the case for this.

3 & 4. As I have set out you would need to prove that your protected disclosure/whistleblowing meets several criteria rather than it being a grievance or work-place issue.

3. For a disability discrimination claim you would need to prove that you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and that your employer could have reasonably known of the disability.

[Retromau5]

Thank you for taking the time to look at this. I think I've got enough to prove what I need to for this to go in my favour, with the added bonus of the ICO upholding my complaint against them against them over a DSAR request I submitted and they didn't respond to (infringement of the legislation they called it) and a further misuse of sensitive personal data complaint regarding my wife that the ICO is currently investigating, I feel that they may try to settle.

[ULA]

If you are going to continue with an employment tribunal claim, then please make sure that you submit the ET1 in time.

Given the backlog in the tribunals and the stress of being a litigant in person, if you can come to a settlement you are happy with, then that would be a good outcome.

[Retromau5]

UPDATE

So, after submitting better and further particulars to explain the disability and discrimination in greater detail, the respondent denied everything (which was expected really). Their ammended response was a mess, filled with objections and outrage and nothing of any real substance. Now we're about to reach the point where we are supposed to disclose documents and they've contacted ACAS looking to settle, which is fine as I've discussed figures with my solicitor and we have a strategy in place.

But rather bizarrely, I was followed home by one of my former colleagues the other day, who preceded to make a complete spectical of himself in front of my neighbours (and their CCTV cameras, with his company uniform on for all the world to see) by ranting about how he didn't raise a grievance against me and all the evidence in his name that was given to me for the disciplinary meeting wasn't anything to do with him. This has left me very confused, and unsure how to proceed with this.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[PallasAthena]

My first (lay person's) thought is simply to tell him he needs to take it up with his employer and you aren't permitted to alter the documents submitted by the employer for the Tribunal hearing.

[ULA]

Firstly I would ask your neighbour to keep the footage from the CCTV cameras of that incident, you do not need to do anything with it but it is a "just in case".

Secondly do not proceed any differently, as this is a matter between him and your ex-employer.

[Retromau5]

Thanks. The process is on rails, and won't be making any additional stops or detours. But his greivance is the main driver for their defence of the dismissal, so without him they have nothing but "admittance of having 'platonic' relationships with colleagues" (their word not mine). I've seen many investigations and disciplinary procedures over the years, but mine has to be the most bizarre series of events out of them all.

[ULA]

Well if his grievance is the main driver for their defence, it will be interesting how that works out from them, if there is any truth in his outburst at you.

Just keep focused on putting together a strong presentation of evidence to support your claim.