A FORMER Sellafield worker who was ruled not to be a whistleblower by an employment tribunal will have a chance to argue against that decision.

Alison McDermott was hired by Sellafield for 21 days as a consultant after working for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) for two years.

In October 2018, after she had produced a report that alleged there was 'vile homophobic abuse, sexual harassment and bullying' at the workplace, her employment was terminated.

In 2021, she told a 13-day tribunal that the allegations she highlighted were not investigated. She said she believed she'd been dismissed for whistleblowing.

But the tribunal panel rejected her claim, saying she could not be classed as a whistleblower and there was no 'causal link' between her report and the termination of her contract.

At the time, the lawyer representing Sellafield said the contract was terminated because Ms McDermott's work on equality, diversity and inclusion was 'fundamentally flawed'.

But now, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has granted several grounds of appeal on which they will hear Miss McDermott's arguments for why the tribunal should be revisited.

In a document, the EAT has approved several grounds of appeal, including one which states: "It is arguable that the tribunal did not sit back and examine the totality.

"Whilst the tribunal was entitled to break down the facts, it is not clear from the judgement that it ever considered the totality of circumstances in drawing conclusions."

It is understood that members of the Norwegian environmentalist group Neptune Network will travel from Norway to London, where the hearing will take place in January, to show support for Ms McDermott.

A spokesperson from Sellafield said: "These issues are subject to ongoing litigation.

"We cannot comment further at this stage."

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