The recent Court of Appeal case of Sullivan v Isle of Wight Council has confirmed that external job applicants, other than those making applications within the NHS, do not have whistleblower protection.
Ms Sullivan applied for two different financial positions with the Isle of Wight Council and attended interviews in October and December 2019. She was unsuccessful in her applications. In January 2020, she filed an online crime report with the police, alleging that she had been verbally assaulted during the interviews. She also made a complaint to the Council, which was investigated and it was found that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by staff. Therefore, Ms Sullivan’s complaint was not upheld.
Ms Sullivan also sent a letter to her MP detailing certain things that had allegedly occurred at the interviews and complaining about the activities of a charitable trust (a member of the Council interviewing panel was a trustee of the trust). Ms Sullivan subsequently brought a whistleblowing claim against the Council in the Employment Tribunal (“ET”), arguing that the Council’s refusal to allow a further review of her complaint was a detriment because she had made a protected disclosure of information.
Under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (“ERA”), whistleblowing protection is provided for workers and NHS job applicants but this protection does not extend to job applicants generally. Ms Sullivan was not a worker within the meaning of the ERA, or an applicant for...
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