Employment Appeal Tribunal Overturns Key Whistleblowing and Unfair Dismissal Findings
A crucial Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling has overturned key findings in a whistleblowing and unfair dismissal case.
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Employment Appeal Tribunal Overturns Key Whistleblowing and Unfair Dismissal Findings
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has significantly altered the outcome of an Employment Tribunal’s decision concerning a former employee's claims of whistleblowing detriment and unfair dismissal against Bank of Africa UK PLC and two of its employees.
The original tribunal had concluded that the claimant's employment had transferred to Bank of Africa UK PLC from its parent company, BMCE Bank of Africa, on 8 January 2021. It had also found that the claimant had suffered several detriments due to whistleblowing. However, the EAT has now ruled that the employment contract remained with BMCE Bank of Africa throughout the secondment period, meaning the claim for automatically unfair dismissal against Bank of Africa UK PLC should have been dismissed.
Whistleblowing Claims Remitted for Rehearing
Furthermore, the EAT found that the original tribunal had erred in its conclusions regarding key aspects of the whistleblowing detriment claims. Consequently, this part of the judgment has been set aside and will be reheard by a differently constituted tribunal.
The case originally involved a claimant employed by BMCE Bank of Africa, who was seconded to Bank of Africa UK PLC in London as Head of Human Resources. Following the end of her secondment in 2021, she brought multiple claims, including sex discrimination, race discrimination, harassment, victimisation, whistleblowing detriment, ordinary unfair dismissal, and automatically unfair dismissal for whistleblowing.
Key Findings Overturned
The EAT president, Lord Fairley, noted that the original tribunal’s finding that the claimant became an employee of Bank of Africa UK PLC on 8 January 2021 was legally flawed. The appeal tribunal concluded that, based on the facts found, the employment contract legally remained with BMCE Bank of Africa.
Regarding the whistleblowing claims, while some protected disclosures were accepted as having been made, the tribunal's reasoning on causation and the specific detriments suffered was also found to be problematic. This led to the decision to remit these aspects of the claim for a fresh determination.
The EAT dismissed some of the respondents' grounds of appeal, including challenges relating to the perversity of findings on causation and whether certain disclosures were protected. However, a procedural error regarding a disclosure made in an email dated 31 December 2019 was also identified, contributing to the decision to remit.
The appeal tribunal's decision means that the original findings on the claimant's employment status and several whistleblowing detriments are no longer valid, necessitating a new hearing for those specific claims.
Read the entire judgment here: Bank of Africa UK PLC & Ors. v Hassani [2026] EAT 27
