Whistleblowing protections do not extend to external job applicants, after a ruling by the Court of Appeal.

In the case of Sullivan v Isle of Wight Council, Miss Sullivan had applied for a job at the council and was invited for two interviews.

She then alleged that she had been subjected to verbal harassment by the managers who conducted them, and that one council employee had been involved in the operation of a trust with financial irregularities.

Her claim was dismissed by an employment tribunal in 2022, which ruled that whistleblowing protections did not extend to her because she was neither a worker nor an employee.

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Sullivan appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal in January 2024, but this too was dismissed.

Last month, whistleblowing charity Protect filed a third-party intervention at the Court of Appeal in her case.

The intervention was designed to address whether external job applicants are protected by whistleblowing legislation if they have made a protected disclosure – normally about an employer – during the job application process.

The Court of Appeal has now dismissed Sullivan’s claim. It held that she was “not in a materially analogous position” to workers or applicants for NHS posts (who do have protection against whistleblowing detriment)

It ruled that although in some cases external non-NHS job applicants could come under the remit of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (protection from discrimination), in Sullivan’s case no ECHR rights had been infringed.

Protect had submitted that Article 14 was incompatible with the Employment Rights Act 1996 because external, non-NHS candidates for jobs could be subject to detriment if they make a protected disclosure during the hiring process. The Court of Appeal did not agree.

Protect chief executive Elizabeth Gardiner said the judgment was “disappointing”.

“Job applicants who blew the whistle in a former role will have no remedy if a new employer refuses their application simply because they raised concerns in the past,” she said.

“We know of many whistleblowers who have had to change their professions: whistleblowing still comes with a huge personal cost. We continue to operate in a two-tier system with one rule for NHS job applicants and another rule for everyone else.

“The law needs to stand by all in the workplace who have the courage to speak up and stop harm and Parliament has the opportunity in the Employment Rights Bill to extend whistleblowing protections to include job applicants.”

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A number of politicians are seeking an amendment to the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill that will extend whistleblowing protections to more types of workers.

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