The Claimant, who was employed by the Respondent union, was dismissed with immediate effect. He brought claims in the ET for automatic unfair dismissal on the ground that he had made protected disclosures in his email shortly before his dismissal, or that he had taken part in trade union activities, and he applied for interim relief. The ET granted his application in relation to the protected disclosures, on the basis that he had a "pretty good chance" of success at full trial, and ordered continuation of the Claimant's contract of employment and for pay and other benefits due under his contract from his date of dismissal until the determination or settlement of his claim. The Respondent appealed, arguing that the ET's conclusion concerning the Claimant's chance of success was perverse.

The EAT held that there was no tenable basis for the ET's conclusion that the Claimant had a pretty good chance of establishing that he reasonably believed that the disclosures were made in the public interest, so as to take them beyond the scope of a communication made in the course of a private employment dispute. Accordingly, the order for interim relief would be set aside.