An employment judge dismissed whistleblowing claims on the basis that no relevant grievance had been raised with the employer and so the then applicable statutory dispute resolution procedures had not been complied with. The EAT has allowed an appeal against this ruling.
Mrs Goodman, Miss Craig and Mrs Aramayo were employees of the Unison branch for employees of Shropshire County Council.
They complained of bullying and harassment by union officials. They also complained about overzealous scrutiny of their work and the introduction of new workplace practices without consultation. They raised a grievance in April 2008 and claimed that as a result of having done so things became materially worse for them. Their grievance was not dealt with quickly, it was interfered with by those against whom the complaints were made and as a result of the matter taking so long to be resolved two of them went off sick and lost pay.