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ARTICLE · 20 JULY 2006

Protected Disclosure - A Haunting Experience?

Pinsent Masons
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Actions can have far-reaching and often unforeseen consequences. But surely a former employer can't be liable to a former employee for alleged detriment occurring after the employment has ended? Yes it can, confirmed the Court of Appeal on 22 June 2006 in <I>Woodward v. Abbey National PLC </I>[2006] EWCA Civ 822.

United KingdomGovernment, Public Sector
Nicholas Dobson
Nicholas Dobson

Actions can have far-reaching and often unforeseen consequences. But surely a former employer can't be liable to a former employee for alleged detriment occurring after the employment has ended? Yes it can, confirmed the Court of Appeal on 22 June 2006 in Woodward v. Abbey National PLC [2006] EWCA Civ 822.

The case concerned a claim under section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996. This gives a worker the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by his or her employer which has been done on the ground that the worker has made a protected disclosure. Protected disclosures (per Part IVA of the Employment Rights Act 1996) are those disclosures, not themselves criminal offences, made appropriately and in good faith in respect of a relevant concern about the employer's business. Qualifying disclosures (i.e. those qualifying for protection) include the following (see section 43B of the Employment Rights Act 1996):

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