Welcome to our latest Coffee Break in which we look at the latest legal and practical developments impacting employers
Court of Appeal ruling on whether a dismissal was for a protected disclosure or the manner in which it was made
The Court of Appeal (CA) has handed down its decision in Kong v Gulf International Bank that considered whether the principal reason for a dismissal was a protected disclosure or the conduct of the employee that accompanied it – or were the two inseparable?
We looked at the background in our earlier Coffee Break and the Employment Appeal Tribunal finding that the principal reason for the employee's dismissal by the senior management team was not the making of a protected disclosure but the way in which she had conveyed those concerns to the head of legal; the employee's alleged unacceptable style of interaction had manifested itself in an incident that was found to be serious in its impact on a senior colleague and there appeared to be no prospect that the employee would change her ways.
This case is one that has understandably attracted attention given that, as noted by the CA, whistleblowing by its nature "frequently involves an individual raising concerns about wrongdoing committed by individuals, frequently colleagues, commonly working in the same workplace. It is a natural human response to be defensive and resist criticism. Not only is it likely that the subject or content of a protected disclosure will be unwelcome, the manner in which it...
Federal grand jury charges Farmington Hills adult daycare manager with billing Medicare for therapy never provided A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Michigan returned an indictment ch...