Clyde & Co LLP and another v Bates van Winkelhof [2014]

Ms Bates van Winklehof was a solicitor and partner in the Limited Liability Partnership of Clyde & Co LLP for about a year until she was expelled from the partnership in January 2011. Part of the reasons for this detrimental treatment, she argued, was because she had made protected disclosures regarding bribery in Tanzania.

The firm, in turn, argued she had no protections under the whistleblowing legislation because she was not a 'worker', as required by the legislation. The Supreme Court has now ruled that a fixed-share equity partner can be a worker and the case on its substantive merits should now proceed to tribunal.

The Court found that the appellant fell under this definition of