M&S ‘whistleblower’ claims human rights
May 14, 2009
Not long ago I wrote about Margaret Haywood, the NHS worker who was struck off after filming a secret documentary for the BBC which highlighted the poor treatment of elderly patients at a Brighton Hospital (NHS case highlights whistleblowing legislation, 20th April). This was an interesting case because Haywood was described as a Whistleblower, but hadn’t actually been through a formal process to complain about any wrongdoing, which is required under whistleblowing legislation.
This week sees a similar case go to tribunal in London, following the sacking last year of Tony Goode, Customer Loyalty Manager at M&S, for leaking information to the media about planned cuts in redundancy payments. The retail giant viewed this as gross misconduct and dismissed him. Goode made an appeal, supported by his union the GMB, but was unsuccessful, however he did not stop there and has taken the case to the Central London Tribunal, with continued backing from the union.
Goode is also being labelled a ‘whistleblower’ in the media, but, as with the Haywood case, his actions do not actually fall under whistleblowing legislation, as indicated by an M&S spokesperson:
“Tony Goode deliberately leaked internal company information and made derogatory and speculative comments to the media. He did this despite there being a variety of other internal routes available to address his concerns, and very clear guidance on the handling of internal information.”
Goode is claiming that his dismissal was unfair because it breached his human rights. This will mean his freedom of expression, as described in the law:
“Everyone has the right of freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without inference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”
However, the Human Rights Act also says that this right can be subject to:
“formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.”
So I think that Goode will struggle to rely on this piece of legislation to defend what he did and claim unfair dismissal. I will be really surprised if he wins his case, because no matter how disgruntled he, or any other employee was, about the proposed changes to the redundancy pay, this was an internal process and the first thing Goode should have done is raise a grievance about it, or, better still, organised a collective grievance, rather than go straight to the media. I will continue to watch the developments with interest!
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3 Responses to “M&S ‘whistleblower’ claims human rights”
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Dear HRGirl, I appreciate you work in HR and are therefore not to be trusted, but maybe you should understand the following.
Mr Goode raised this issue with his Line Manager and the Internal Staff Representation Groups before disclosing this information to the press. This was disclosed in addition to facts relating to bullying and discrimination being tolerated by M&S in several areas of the company. The Business Involvement Groups (BIG’s) are not independent and less than a third of M&S Employees believe they are effective. I also look forward to the outcome of this case as regardless of the decision, it will be a victory in several ways. Lastly, I must say I’m quite impressed by your analysis of whether or not article 10 of the HRA is applicable, because both counsels were not sure. Maybe you’re in the wrong job.
So, you’re an expert on the Human Rights Act eh?
Even if M&S win they’ve lost in the long run.
Hi TG
An interesting bit of information! Just goes to show that you never get the full story from the media…
If the internal processes for complaints were followed prior to the media ‘leak’ (which the M&S spokesperson said they were not), then this throws what I said in the last paragraph of the blog into a different light.