Can disclosing information that a Team Leader (TL), in a hospital treating people detained under the Mental Health Act, is taking food meant for a patient, amount to a protected disclosure under the whistleblowing provisions in the Employment Rights Act 1996? “Yes” said an ET and the EAT in Elysium Healthcare No.2 Ltd v Ogunlami. First, the TL had failed to comply with a legal obligation to which she was subject, i.e. taking the service user’s food was in breach of her terms and conditions of employment, particularly in relation to gifts from service users, and could result in disciplinary action. Secondly, the disclosure was in the public interest as the breach of the legal obligation, went beyond the confines of people at the hospital, as they raised wider issues of public concern, i.e. whether there is the practice of taking advantage of vulnerable individuals in the employer’s care.

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