Individuals can be liable for the unlawful dismissal of a whistle-blower, along with the employer, the Court of Appeal has confirmed.
In Timis and anor V Osipov the claimant CEO made several protected disclosures about corporate governance matters. A few months later, one of the company’s Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) emailed another NED telling him to dismiss the claimant. This instruction was carried out.
The Court of Appeal rejected the NED’s appeal that they should not be held personally liable to pay compensation for the losses that arise from the unlawful detriment of dismissing the claimant. This is in contrast to standard unfair dismissal claims, which can only be brought against the employer.
“This decision may encourage dismissed whistle-blowers to bring claims for detriment against the dismissing manager(s), in addition to claims for unfair dismissal against their employer,” said Bradley Houlston, Senior Associate at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, writing in Lexology. “This may be deployed by claimants as a litigation tactic, in order to put pressure on the organisation to settle.”
“Detriment claims against managers will also mean that a successful claimant could potentially recover an additional injury to feelings award against the manager, an award which is not available in a whistleblowing dismissal claim. The burden of proof for a detriment claim is also lower than it is for an unfair dismissal claim,” he added.
