The WRC found it had no jurisdiction to hear a social worker’s complaint that a disability charity penalised him for making a protected disclosure. The decision was dated 7 March 2018; the merits of the penalisation complaint were not decided.
The worker said he had been pressured into withdrawing a letter about an alleged relationship involving a senior manager, and that his fixed-term contract was not renewed because of it. The charity disputed the allegation and argued that the WRC could not hear the complaint because the person referred to in the letter was an adult.
The adjudication officer found that the Protection of Persons Reporting Child Abuse Act 1998 applied to disclosures about people under 18. The worker accepted that the person was over 18, so the complaint fell outside the Act and the WRC could not hear it. The officer also refused his application to amend the complaint under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, finding the letter could not qualify under that law.