News

15/05/2020

Latest update published of Whistleblowing: Law and Practice

News

An update to Whistleblowing: Law and Practice (OUP) 2017, brought up to date to 14 May 2020, has been published here.

Co-authored by Jeremy Lewis, John Bowers QC, Martin Fodder and Old Square’s Jack Mitchell and at nearly 200 pages, it is comprehensive.

Important legislation analysed: including Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, with a detailed comparison of that forthcoming protection with the current law in England and Wales.

Some of the many issues addressed include:

• Is there a new whistleblower tort following Rihan v Ernst & Young Global Ltd and others [2020] EWHC 901 (QB).
• Pre-employment protection considering the ET case of Bilsbrough v Berry Marketing Services Ltd Case No. 1401692/2018, 5th July 2019.
• The rights of those contributing to or being associated to a disclosure following the ET case of Aston and others v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Case No. 2402963/2017, 31st May 2019.
• The aggregation of disclosures, following Elysium Healthcare No.2 Ltd v Ogunlami [2019] UKEAT 0116/18/RN, 12th February 2019;  Robinson v His Highness Sheikh Khalid Bin- Saqr Al Qasmi [2020] IRLR 345 (EAT) and Choudhury P in Simpson v Cantor Fitzgerald Europe [2020] ICR 236 (EAT).
• Reasonable belief, with consideration of Bassnett v Nutriculture UK Ltd ET Case No. 2405266/2018, 23rd May 2019 ; Mr N Williams v  Michelle Brown AM  UKEAT/0044/19/OO, 29th October 2019 ; Simpson v Cantor Fitzgerald Europe [2020] ICR 236 (EAT).
• Knowledge of the recipient following Young v Brit College Ltd Case No. 3201701/2019, 5th August 2019 and The Office for Gas and Electricity Markets v Pytel [2019] ICR 715 (EAT).
• Public interest, building upon Chesterton, examining cases such as  ABC & others v Telegraph Media Group Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 2329, [2019] 2 All E.R. 684, Parsons v Airplus International Ltd UKEAT/0111/17/JOJ, 13th October 2017 ; Malik v Cenkos Securities Plc UKEAT/0100/17/RN, 17th January 2018 and Ibrahim v HCA International Ltd UKEAT/0105/18/BA, 13th September 2018; [2019] EWCA Civ 2007, [2020] IRLR 224 (CA).
• Section 43G and separability following Jesudason v Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust UKEAT/0248/16/LA, 29th June 2018; [2020] EWCA Civ 73.
• Workers following Uber B.V.  and others v Aslam and others  [2019] IRLR 257 (CA) building upon McTigue and Day, but also the wider implications from Gilham v Ministry of Justice [2019] UKSC 44; [2019] 1 WLR 5905 reversing [2017] EWCA Civ 2220, [2018] ICR 827 and the application of Convention Rights more broadly for whistleblower.
• Territorial reach following British Council v Jeffery; Green v SIG Trading Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 2253, [2019] ICR 929 (CA).
• Claims against co-workers, building upon Oispov including Bamieh v (1) Eulex Kosovo (2) Foreign & Commonwealth Office (3) Mr G Meucci (5) Ms C Fearon (6) Mr J Ratel  UKEAT/0268/16/RN, 19th January 2018 and Jeffery v British Council [2019] ICR 929 (CA).
• The implications of an investigation into whistleblower’s concerns following Quarm v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis  UKEAT 0200/18/LA, 22nd  May 2019.
• The full analysis of tainted information and manipulation with the reach of Royal Mail Group Ltd  v Jhuti [2019] UKSC 55 fully considered, including how tainted information was applied in Chumber v Hestia Healthcare Limited UKEAT/0229/18/LA, 22nd February 2019 (before the Supreme Court’s judgment) and in Cadent Gas Ltd v Singh [2020] IRLR 86 (EAT) and Uddin v London Borough Of Ealing [2020] UKEAT 0165/0165/19/RN (both decided after the Supreme Court).
• Interim relief is brought up to date including consideration of Hancock v Ter-Berg & Anor [2019] UKEAT 0138_19_2507 (25th July 2019) and Sheikh Khalid Bin Saqr Al Qasimi v Robinson [2020] IRLR 345.
• Non-disclosure, and non-disparaging agreements are considered, including the balance between confidentiality and public interest following Saab v Dangate Consulting Ltd and others [2019] PNLR 29, Pharmagona v Taheri and Mohammadi [2020] EWHC 312 (QB) and Pertemps Medical Group Ltd v Ladak [2020] EWHC 163 (QB).
• Remedies following Gibson v (1) Hounslow LBC and (2) Crane Park Primary School UKEAT/0033/18/BA.