Whistleblowing: protected acts: complainer

WHISTLEBLOWING

Protected acts

Grievances

Case   Szucs v Greensquare Group Ltd [2024] EAT 160

Facts  S was dismissed for performance, attendance and attitude reasons. He had less than two years continuous employment. He claimed that the reason for his dismissal was that he had lodged grievances. He argued that the grievances were protected acts and the ET had jurisdiction to hear his complaint of unfair dismissal. G’s HR manager had described S as a complainer. The ET dismissed the complaint. S appealed to the EAT.

Decision      1. The appeal was allowed.

2. The ET had been wrong to separate the “complainer” issue from the complaint of unfair dismissal. This needed to be clearly explained.

3. The ET had not explicitly stated that the protected acts were not part of the reason why S had been dismissed. This was an error.