Whistleblowing: Suffering A Detriment

To bring a whistleblowing detriment claim in an Employment Tribunal, a worker must suffer the detriment in the "field of employment", not in a private or personal capacity.

THE FACTS

Mrs Tiplady was employed as a senior planning officer by the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. She and her husband had some difficult dealings with the Council in relation to a property they owned in the Bradford district. One issue related to a sewer under the property that they believed was emitting poisonous gasses, and another related to planning permission for a shed. They were unhappy with how the Council had dealt with both issues and Mrs Tiplady resigned, claiming constructive dismissal and automatically unfair dismissal under the whistleblowing legislation. She also complained that she had suffered 16 detriments because of having made whistleblowing disclosures.