“Can I claim for whistleblowing discrimination?”
The short answer is YES.
This article gives a longer answer, plus details of a case where a Royal Mail employee was awarded over £2.3 million for exactly that.
Let’s start by defining whistleblowing…
What is whistleblowing?
Whistleblowing means “disclosing wrongdoings in the public interest”. That might include reporting malpractice or unlawful conduct at your place of work. For example:
- Where public safety is at risk
- When the health and safety of any individual is endangered
- When an organisation is cutting corners
- Intimidating behaviour by staff to customers
- Criminal offences such as fraud
- Failure to comply with a legal obligation
- When a miscarriage of justice has occurred or is likely to occur
What is whistleblowing discrimination?
Whistleblowing discrimination is when you’re treated badly because you blew the whistle. For example, you were bullied, or missed out on a promotion, or your employer gave you a bad reference when you resigned, or perhaps you were dismissed.
What’s the law relating to whistleblowing?
As a whistleblower, you are protected from unfair treatment and dismissal from your employer.
Whistleblower who won £2.3 million
Ms Jhuti worked in the MarketReach unit of Royal Mail Group.
She raised concerns that Ofcom guidance was being breached, and about the way some employee bonuses were being awarded.
Afterwards, she was bullied, harassed and intimidated by her manager. She (and only she) had to attend weekly one-to-one meetings and achieve certain targets. She was asked to provide key contacts from her previous employment. Finally, she was offered three months’ pay rising to a year’s salary, to leave the organisation.
Ms Jhuti suffered severe depression, anxiety, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of her treatment. She went off sick and left the company in 2013. Her poor mental health meant she was unable to work after losing her job.
She made a claim against the Royal Mail for unfair dismissal. The employment tribunal hearing was originally scheduled for 2016. After a series of appeals, it was 2019 when the Supreme Court determined that she was indeed dismissed unfairly.
Compensation wasn’t calculated until February this year (2023), and the amount was finally made public in July.
The tribunal has ordered Royal Mail to pay a total of £2,365,614.13. This comprises awards for:
- Detriment
- Past losses including pension
- Future losses including pension
- Basic award
- Acas uplift
- Award for tax
It’s good news for Ms Jhuti, but it’s not quite over yet. A Royal Mail spokesperson has apologised and said they will make her an interim payment while appealing against the size of the award and the way it’s been calculated.
What this means to you
If you witness illegal, unethical or unsafe behaviour at work, first check your employer’s whistleblowing policy. The best place to look for it is your staff handbook or employment contract.
Whatever the written procedure says, ensure you follow it.
Reporting the behaviour to your employer is likely to be the next step. It’s called a ‘qualifying disclosure’ and you might have to tell your boss, the Health and Safety manager, trade union representative or health and safety representative.
If you can’t do that for any reason, you might be able to report it to an external third party. Depending on your situation, that might be:
- HMRC
- The Financial Conduct Authority
- The Health & Safety Executive
- The Care Quality Commission
- The Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts
- The Information Commissioner
- Any other relevant regulatory body
It would have to be an exceptionally serious situation for you to report the situation to the media or the police.
Note that you shouldn’t investigate the malpractice yourself. Rather, you should make written notes of everything that’s relevant, including what happened, who said or did what, and when. Stick to the facts, stay calm and keep emotion out of it.
By the way, don’t think you have to keep quiet because you’ve signed a confidentiality clause, perhaps as part of a settlement agreement (or compromise agreement in Northern Ireland). That clause becomes void in the case of malpractice or wrongdoing in the workplace.
How we help
If you’re unsure whether or not the behaviour is malpractice, give us a call and we’ll let you know. We’re specialist employment lawyers who only act on behalf of employees, not employers. We can also advise who you should report the malpractice to, and help you make a claim for whistleblowing discrimination or unfair dismissal.
If you’ve suffered detriment because you blew the whistle, we’ll help you make a claim for whistleblowing discrimination. You might win compensation financial losses and injury to feelings.
If you lost your job because you blew the whistle, it counts as automatic unfair dismissal. You might win a basic award (calculated the same way as a redundancy payment), plus loss of earnings and compensation for injury to feelings.
Related reading
For more on this subject, please see our related articles:
- Whistleblowing: Is it worth it?
- I’ve lost my job after whistleblowing. Can I claim for unfair dismissal?
- Whistleblowing. Are you protected?
- Witnessed malpractice in the workplace? It’s time to blow the whistle!
- Top tips you need to know for whistleblowing
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