The Claimant was employed as Head of Financial Audit by the Respondent. The Claimant had raised concerns about a draft audit report, and these concerns amounted to protected disclosures. The employee responsible for the matter about which the Claimant had raised concerns disagreed with the Claimant’s assessment, considered that the Claimant had “impugned her integrity” in their correspondence regarding the matter, and after discussions with both the Head of HR, CEO and Group Chief Auditor, the Claimant was dismissed. Before the Employment Tribunal (ET), the Claimant asserted that she had suffered detrimental treatment and had been unfairly dismissed for making protected disclosures. The former complaint was out of time and the latter was rejected, although the Claimant was found to have been ordinarily unfairly dismissed. The Claimant appealed on the basis that she had been unfairly dismissed for making protected disclosures.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed the appeal. It was held that the ET had properly considered the existing guidance on whether the “principal reason for dismissal could properly be treated as separable and distinct from the making of the protected disclosures”, and appropriately concluded that the managers who decided to dismiss the Claimant had not been motivated by the protected disclosures but rather by the Claimant’s conduct towards the offended employee; which was considered as an “unacceptable personal attack” and a reflection of the Claimant’s interpersonal skills.