Afghanistan evacuation whistleblower wins unfair dismissal case

A Overseas Workplace whistleblower has gained a case for unfair dismissal over her disclosures to the BBC in regards to the UK evacuation from Afghanistan.

Josie Stewart revealed particulars of the chaotic August 2021 withdrawal from Kabul and emails which urged then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s had been concerned within the evacuation of a pet charity.

She had her safety clearance revoked and misplaced her job after a BBC journalist by chance recognized her as a confidential supply on social media.

An employment tribunal, chaired by Decide Andrew Glennie, discovered she had leaked the data within the public curiosity and had been unfairly dismissed.

Legal professionals for the Overseas, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace (FCDO) mentioned Ms Stewart’s bosses had been pressured to sack her as a result of her safety clearance had been revoked and there have been no different appropriate roles for her.

However Ms Stewart’s barrister, Gavin Millar KC, mentioned that if their argument had succeeded it will have pushed “a coach and horses by way of” the Public Curiosity Disclosure Act 1998 (Pida) aimed toward defending whistleblowers.

In a judgement issued on Tuesday, the employment tribunal mentioned Ms Stewart had been justified in going to the media on a transparent matter of public curiosity.

“The tribunal thought of that it was affordable for the claimant [Stewart] to go to the UK’s public service broadcaster when related info and/or allegations had already been put into the general public area … and authorities ministers have been publicly disputing them.”

The tribunal heard that Ms Stewart had “skilled a tradition in FCDO which silences issues and ostracises those that elevate them”.

She mentioned her expertise of the FCDO’s Afghanistan disaster centre in August 2021 “mirrored the worst of our political system”.

In a press release upon receiving the judgment, she added: “By calling this out, I misplaced my profession.

“The result of this case would not change any of this, nevertheless it has achieved what I got down to obtain: it has established that civil servants have the best to not keep silent when systemic failures put lives in danger, as occurred in the course of the Afghan evacuation.

“I hope that, understanding that their colleagues have this proper, senior officers will do extra to construct accountability in authorities, and communicate fact to energy when it’s wanted.

“We won’t have a system that claims keep silent, it doesn’t matter what you see, and forces devoted public servants to decide on between their conscience and their profession.”

Elizabeth Gardiner, chief govt of whistleblowing charity Shield, welcomed the ruling.

“We’d like whistleblowers to boost issues within the public curiosity and this case is uncommon and vastly vital to find {that a} civil servant was justified in going to the press.”

She added that the choice had “weighty repercussions for the way civil servants can act sooner or later and their confidence in talking out once they encounter wrongdoing”.

However she mentioned it didn’t take away the necessity for higher protections for civil servants who elevate issues internally by way of an “unbiased statutory commissioner”.

An FCDO spokesperson mentioned: “We’ll evaluation the findings of the tribunal and take into account subsequent steps.”

Treatments for Ms Stewart’s profitable complaints shall be decided at a future listening to.