Whistleblowing and Job Applicants

Does whistleblowing protection extend to external job applicants, or only apply to your employees?

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, workers are granted protection following a disclosure made for public interest. To see whether this protection is also offered to job applicants, we can look at the case of Sullivan v Isle of Wight Council as an example.

In this case, the claimant had two interviews with Ise of Wight Council and was not accepted for either role. Following this, she made a police report claiming that she had been verbally harassed by the employees of the Isle of Wight Council. She also complained to the respondent, stating that an employee of theirs was involved in trust-related financial irregularities. This issue was internally investigated and was dismissed. Sullivan requested an appeal which was denied by the Isle of Wight Council.

The claimant then brought a claim before the Employment Tribunal, arguing that she had suffered a detriment (her right of appeal being denied) as a result of the allegations regarding financial irregularities.

The Employment Tribunal found that Sullivan was not eligible to bring forward a whistleblowing claim. This was due to her status as a job applicant - the right to make a whistleblowing claim extends only to workers within a business.

For further HR advice or guidance in relation to the topic above, get in touch with the Lansbury HR Consultants. We are here to support businesses nationally and locally in Burton-on-Trent, Swadlincote, and Derby.