Tech executive fired for sleeping in sauna during work trip in line for ₹964 crore payout
A tech executive who was fired after sleeping in a sauna during a work trip has won the right to pursue £76 million (nearly ₹964 crore) in compensation, which could be the largest payout in British employment tribunal hory.Shannon Burns was dismissed after losing her room key and sleeping in a sauna while on a work trip. (Unsplash/Representational image)According to a report The Independent, Shannon Burns, former vice president of engineering at Gitpod, was dismissed from her £220,000-a-year (around ₹2.7 crore) role in June 2023 after an incident during a team-building trip to Austria. She later won a disability discrimination case against the company.Burns developed PTSD during her sacking and has now left the tech industry for good. She is seeking £76 million in compensation, based on calculations of her potential future earnings and other losses.Gitpod, a company owned OpenAI, attempted to restrict the compensation that she could seek to £1m. However, the Birmingham Employment Tribunal has now rejected the company’s application, meaning she can formally pursue £76 million in compensation.(Also Read: Indian woman warns against judging Dubai salary in rupees: ‘You need to spend money in dirhams’)Why was Shannon Burns fired?Burns, who has ADHD, travelled to Lofer, Austria, for a team-building event in April 2023. According to the tribunal, she had been drinking alcohol during the trip and forgot her room key one evening, leaving her unable to access her room. She eventually slept in a sauna that night.Following the trip, Gitpod CEO Johannes Landgraf raised concerns about what he described as her “lack of professional accountability”. Burns was subsequently dismissed in June 2023.Burns later alleged that she was treated differently from male colleagues who had also been drinking during the off-site.In 2025, the Birmingham Employment Tribunal found that Burns had been dismissed because of her disabilities, allowing her to pursue compensation.(Also Read:
