Overview

A charity worker who dressed as Brian the Snail to crawl the London marathon was reportedly sacked for failing to raise enough sponsorship money but was this a fair reason for dismissal?
Lloyd Scott hoped to raise at least £100,000 for charity Action for Kids by crawling the London Marathon dressed as Brian the Snail from The Magic Roundabout. After taking almost a month to complete the course he only raised about £20,000 and the charity reportedly gave him his notice, "due to losses incurred". Although this seems like a harsh response from the charity, it is not a foregone conclusion that Mr Scott would win a claim of unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal. In this article Shoosmiths considers the requirements for a fair dismissal by an employer.