Sullivan v Isle of Wight Council [2025] EWCA Civ 379 concerned a job applicant who made allegations about a charitable trust, a trustee of which was on the council’s interviewing panel.
Currently, the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA) only provides whistleblowing protection to NHS job applicants. Sullivan contended this was incompatible with her human rights, among other grounds. The court dismissed her appeal.
However, Lord Justice Lewis, giving the main judgment, said he would regard applying for a job ‘as capable of being treatment on the ground of some other status’.
Anna Birtwistle, partner at Farrer & Co, representing intervener Protect, the whistleblowing charity, said: ‘The judgment is particularly important in noting that a job applicant is capable of falling under “some other status” under Article 14 [of the European Convention on Human Rights] … and it clearly outlines the purpose of whistleblowing provisions in the ERA to protect the public interest.’
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