Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Financial penaltiesLatest NewsEmployment tribunalsWhistleblowing

Directors must pay £2m in landmark whistleblowing case

by Adam McCulloch 22 Oct 2018
by Adam McCulloch 22 Oct 2018 IPL is an oil and gas company domiciled in Australia. Photo: Qiu Ju Song/Shutterstock
IPL is an oil and gas company domiciled in Australia. Photo: Qiu Ju Song/Shutterstock

Two individual directors have been held liable for the unfair sacking of a whistleblower for the first time, in a case that will reverberate loudly through boardrooms.

Appeal judges have upheld a record-breaking £2m award to the former chief executive of International Petroleum (IPL), Alexander Osipov, who was sacked in October 2014 on the grounds of lack of trust and confidence.

Osipov brought proceedings in the UK employment tribunal (IPL is based in Australia, but listed on the London Stock Exchange) for unfair dismissal and four counts of victimisation including for whistleblowing. The four co-defendants included two non-executive directors of the company: Frank Timis, the majority shareholder, and Anthony Sage, IPL’s chairman.

Reporting misconduct

How technology can help employees speak up

UK employees more lenient around ethics but more likely to report misconduct

Protect whistleblowers’ support centre launches benchmark for companies

Charity scandal: can employers inform others about misconduct?

Ofgem accused of threatening whistleblowers

In 2016 an employment tribunal ruled that Osipov had been unfairly dismissed, primarily for making protected disclosures under whistleblowing legislation.

He was awarded compensation for unfair dismissal, injury to feelings and unpaid salary. The employment appeal tribunal (EAT) upheld the initial ruling and awarded the claimant £1,744,575.56 (now recalculated to be £2,003,972.35).

The second of two judgments made by the ET found Timis and Sage jointly liable for the award to Osipov. The two directors took this ruling to the Court of Appeal which has now upheld the original tribunal and EAT decisions.

The dismissal of Osipov in 2014 came at the culmination of a series of disagreements between the chief executive, Timis and Sage and other senior employees over IPL’s operations and the award of contracts in Niger, during which Osipov had become excluded from decision-making.

He was then dismissed without a notice period, and IPL claimed that because it only had a very small HR department it was unable to follow the correct dismissal procedures.

Osipov told the ET that his concern was good corporate governance and the need to avoid suggestions of bribery and corruption, which had blighted businesses in Niger. He also voiced concerns over the holding of data that may have breached Niger’s petroleum code.

The case is particularly notable because it has confirmed that individual directors taking the decision to dismiss someone for making a protected disclosure under whistleblowing legislation can be held personally liable.

Gareth Brahams, managing partner of Brahams Dutt Badrick French, the employment law firm that represented Osipov, said the ruling “would encourage decision-makers to think more carefully than ever before about giving instructions to dismiss an employee for whistleblowing and will encourage employers to take steps to train their staff to prevent any such actions occurring in the first place”.

Christopher Fisher, partner in the employment team at Mayer Brown, added that it was often worth a claimant joining individuals on to a claim against an employer.

He said: “Although the employer will normally be (vicariously) liable for the acts of its directors and managers, it will still be worth a claimant employee joining those individuals to the claim, because the test for liability is an easier one to prove: the employer will only be liable if the whistleblower complaint was the main reason for the dismissal; but the individual manager(s) will be liable if the complaint was a significant part of their motivation.”

He urged employers to identify any potential whistleblower complaint at an early stage and isolate complaints from any other processes involving the whistleblowing employee, such as a performance or grievance process.

He added: “Secondly, it will undoubtedly be sensible for employers to provide relevant training to their staff, in particular line managers and those involved in internal HR procedures.

“Given the outcome in Osipov, such training is likely to be well received by those tasked with taking decisions in respect of those who are alleged to have blown the whistle.”

Adam McCulloch
Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch is a freelance writer and production editor who has worked in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He also works for a national newspaper and is the author of KentWalksNearLondon

previous post
Royal Opera House to appeal against musician’s hearing loss ruling
next post
Morrisons payroll data breach judgment a ‘wake-up call’ for business

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

One in four HR teams still using ‘outdated’...

22 Mar 2023

Just Eat to stop employing its own couriers

22 Mar 2023

Former Crossrail worker details blacklisting claims

22 Mar 2023

Inflation increases despite expectations

22 Mar 2023

Pay awards expected to drop back to 5%

22 Mar 2023

Workplace bullying: Handling staff with dark traits

21 Mar 2023

Ramadan in the workplace: top tips for employers

21 Mar 2023

Casey review: Met Police ‘boys’ club culture is...

21 Mar 2023

Nurses and midwives in Scotland accept new NHS...

21 Mar 2023

Amazon announces 9,000 more job losses

21 Mar 2023

  • Sodexo Engage – Mountain of lost benefits ebook PROMOTED | Help your people feel the impact of your benefits...Read more
  • Neurodiversity: How to make the workplace more inclusive (webinar) WEBINAR | Can your organisation truly be inclusive...Read more
  • How HR can facilitate internal talent mobility PROMOTED | Should internal talent mobility be a priority...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...Read more
  • The Workplace Today Guide: Why it pays to support your staff’s financial health PROMOTED | The cost of living crisis has hit...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+