Ms Jhuti, an employee at Royal Mail, made a protected disclosure to her line manager. During the dismissal process her line manager, motivated by that protected disclosure, deliberately misled the investigating manager who dismissed Ms Jhuti for poor performance. She claims automatic unfair dismissal and detrimental treatment on grounds of whistleblowing.
The Court of Appeal found that the dismissal was fair. The Court stressed that unfair dismissal cases require unfairness by the employer – and unfair conduct by individual managers is immaterial unless it can properly be attributed to the employer.
However, the Court suggested that an employer might be liable for a dismissal if the manipulator is someone very senior in the organisation, even where they do not have formal responsibility for making the dismissal decision.
The Court noted that Ms Jhuti may be entitled to compensation as her claim of detrimental treatment by her line manager, for which the employer was vicariously liable, was upheld by the employment tribunal.
Comment:
Although employers may not be liable for unfair dismissal where the decision maker has been misled, they may still be found vicariously liable for detrimental treatment by an employee (if the claim includes a detriment claim or can be amended to include one).