You are currently viewing Employee’s message to employer about working whilst on furlough was not a case of whistleblowing

Employee’s message to employer about working whilst on furlough was not a case of whistleblowing

Ritson v Milan Babic Architects Ltd [2024] EAT 95

The employee in this case was made redundant but alleged that the real reason for his dismissal was that he blew the whistle. He claimed that he did this by sending a message to his employer urging it not to ask furloughed employees to work in breach of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. However, an Employment Tribunal found that the real reason for the dismissal was that there was a genuine redundancy situation and, in any event, the employee did not have a reasonable belief that a breach was probable. Further, he did not believe that the content of his message was in the public interest.

You can see the full judgment here.