Former Financial Reporting Council employee ordered to pay regulator after employment case dismissed

A former actuary at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has been ordered to pay the regulator £20,000 after his employment case was dismissed last year.

Mr R Hartigan took the Financial Reporting Council to the Employment Tribunal (ET) last year after he was dismissed in September 2022.

He was a project director at the regulator for over a year until he was dismissed. He claimed that he had been automatically unfairly dismissed as a consequence of making a protected disclosure on 9th August 2022.

While the Financial Reporting Council said he had been dismissed due to a breakdown in trust and confidence as a consequence of a “strained relationship and difficult interactions” with his line managers.

At a preliminary hearing at the ET back in December, the judge dismissed his automatic unfair dismissal claim.

Following this ruling, the Council submitted a request that indicated that a cost application was to be pursued.

In a judgement published today, Employment Judge Moxon detailed the hourly rates of the Financial Reporting Council lawyers and the costs of its defence. The costs included Fieldfisher partner Richard Kenyon charging an hourly rate of £550 and senior associate Mini Chandramouli’s hourly rate of £425.

The total claimed for the work of its external lawyers at the London-headquartered firm was £15,410.59 plus VAT, which totalled £18,492.71.

In addition to the witnesses and cost reductions, the judge concluded that the total cost claim of £20,000 was “reasonable and appropriate in all the circumstances”.

The Financial Reporting Council was contacted for a comment.