Nadia Motraghi KC, Rad Kohanzad and Daisy van den Berg are appearing for Wicked Vision in the conjoined appeals of Rice v Wicked Vision and Barton Turns Developments v Treadwell, which are listed for hearing before the Supreme Court.
The conjoined appeals concern the construction of section 47B(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the relationship between whistleblowing detriment claims under Part V and unfair dismissal claims under Part X. The central issue is whether an employee who has been dismissed may bring a detriment claim under section 47B in addition to, or instead of, a claim for automatically unfair dismissal under section 103A.
The cases require the Supreme Court to consider the Court of Appeal’s decision in Timis v Osipov [2019] ICR 655, which held that section 47B(2) did not prevent such claims. The Court of Appeal below agreed with Wicked Vision’s construction of the legislation but held that it was bound by Osipov. The appeals raise issues of significant importance for the scope of whistleblowing protection under the ERA 1996.
