Mrs J Climer-Jones v Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board: 1600772/2016
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 24 August 2023 |
| Citation | 1600772/2016 |
| Date | 24 August 2023 |
| Court | Employment Tribunal |
| Published date | 31 January 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Breach of Contract |
Case No: 1600772/2016
1
EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS
Claimant: Mrs J Climer-Jones
Respondent: Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board
Heard at: Cardiff
On: 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30 September 2019, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11,
14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 October 2019
Before: Employment Judge Moore
Mrs L Bishop
Mr P Bradney
Representation
Claimant: In person / Mr Climer - Jones
Respondent: Mr G Powell, Counsel
RESERVED JUDGMENT
1. The unanimous decision of the Tribunal is:
2. The Claimant has been subjected to unlawful detriments on the grounds
she had made protected disclosures, contrary to S47B Employment rights
Act 1996.
3. The Claimant’s claim for unfair dismissal contrary to S98 Employment
Rights Act 1996 succeeds.
4. The Claimant’s claim for unfair dismissal contrary to S103A of the
Employment Rights Act 1996 succeeds.
REASONS
Background
Case No: 1600772/2016
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1. This claim was presented on 17 October 2016. The Claimant was initially
represented by M/s Slater and Gordon, then M/s Watson Burton LLP, who
came off record on 15 August 2019.
2. A detailed history of the claim is set out in EJ Beard’s Order, paragraph 3,
dated 7 January 2019. In summary, there have been a number of preliminary
hearings and orders for the Claimant to further particularise her claim and a
number of hearings listed previously only to be postponed for a different
reasons. In November 2018 EJ Beard permitted some amendments to the
claim and ordered the parties to attend the hearing with an agreed document
setting out the amended claim as it stood following the preliminary hearing
on 13 & 14 November 2018 as had been permitted and announced at that
hearing.
3. In accordance with that order a revised Schedule of Protected Disclosures
and Detriments (“the schedule”) had been produced by M/s Watson Burton
LLP and served on the Respondent on 8 August 2019. This contained 4
separate protected disclosures and 12 detriments. No issues were raised in
respect of that schedule with the Tribunal.
4. A separate preliminary hearing took place on 23, 24 January and 27, 28
February and 1 March 2019. One of the issues determined by EJ Beard was
whether to grant an application for specific disclosure by the Claimant of the
unredacted Independent Enquiry Report by Fiona Smith (& others) dated 18
May 2015 (“the Fiona Smith report”). The Respondent resisted the application
on the grounds of relevance and Public Interest Immunity. EJ Beard, having
had full sight of the unredacted report and all communications around the
report, refused the application on the basis there was nothing of relevance in
the disclosed documents which went beyond that already disclosed in the
redacted report, other than a view of the general culture, which engaged
directly with the Claimant’s complaints or those whose conduct she
complained about. The one exception noted by EJ Beard was where Ms
O’Brien was referenced, but he went on to conclude the documents were
hearsay. A further document was described as opinion based.
5. The Claimant brought claims of constructive unfair dismissal, automatic
unfair dismissal contrary to Section 103A Employment Rights Act 1996
(“ERA”), and that she had been subjected to detriments contrary to S47B
ERA.
6. There was a bundle prepared by the Respondent consisting of 2063 pages.
The Claimant prepared an additional bundle, some of the contents were
already in the Respondent’s bundle but many documents were not. This ran
to 128 pages.
Order of witnesses
7. The table below sets out the witnesses that gave evidence to the Tribunal
during the hearing.
Witness
Date
Case No: 1600772/2016
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Claimant
Friday 27th September 2019, Monday
30th September 2019, Tuesday 1
October 2019, Wednesday 2
October 2019, Thursday 3
October 2019
Aimee Lewis (Witness Order -
Claimant)
Thursday 3 October 2019
Debra Callaghan (Claimant)
Rose Davies (Claimant)
Joanne Towers (Claimant)
Jason Ball (Claimant)
Mr Climer-Jones (Claimant)
Friday 4 October 2019
Julia Evans (Respondent)
Loretta Reilly (Respondent)
Lisa Waters (Respondent)
Wendy Hopkins (Claimant)
Monday 7 October 2019
Loretta Reilly (Respondent – recalled)
Sharon O’Brien (Respondent)
Monday 7 October 2019 into Tuesday
8 October 2019
Dr Al-Mudhaffar (Respondent)
Tuesday 8 October 2019
Natasha Whysall (Respondent)
Wednesday 9 October 2019
Muriel Andal (Respondent)
Lisa Graham (Respondent)
Mary Santos (Respondent)
Tracey Skyrme (Respondent)
Ceri Martin (Respondent)
Friday 11 October 2019
Ben Durham (Respondent)
Louise Farrow (Respondent)
Rhodri John (Respondent)
Friday 11 October 2019 and Monday
14 October 2019
Sheila Harrison (Respondent)
Monday 14 October 2019 and
Tuesday 15 October 2019
Rachelle Griffiths (Respondent)
Tuesday 15 October 2019
Andrea Richards (Respondent)
Nicola Evans (Respondent)
Tuesday 15 October 2019 and
Wednesday 16 October 2019
Helen Richardson (Respondent)
Wednesday 16 October 2019
Kim Tovey (Respondent)
Susan Thomas
21 October 2019
Issues arising during the hearing
8. A number of issues arose during the course of the hearing.
Unless Order 23 September 2019
9. By an order dated 10 September 2019 the parties were due to exchange
witness statements on 17 September 2019. This was varied to 19 September
2019 with consent of the parties. The parties were ordered to attend the on
the morning of 23 September 2019 and hand in copy statements. It was
anticipated the first two days would be reading days and a “housekeeping”
discussion would take place at 10am on Monday 23 September 2019.
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