UNFAIR DISMISSAL
Protected disclosures
Claim form
Case Clarke v The Restaurant Group (UK) Ltd EA-2019-001107-RN
Facts C, a litigant in person, made a complaint to the ET. The ET judge found that there were two complaints. These were ordinary unfair dismissal and breach of contract. C argued that her claim form had shown that she had sought to complain of unfair dismissal for making a protected disclosure. C had written a letter which the ET had treated as an application for reconsideration. This had not been determined. C appealed to the EAT.
Decision 1. The appeal was allowed.
2. The ET judge had been wrong to preclude a possible protected disclosure complaint.
3. A complaint should only be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction in the clearest of cases.
4. C had done enough in the claim form to indicate that she was seeking to pursue a protected disclosure complaint.
5. The particulars in the claim form did not properly explain the protected disclosure issues but she was a litigant in person and the issues could properly be explored at the initial consideration stage.
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