A finance director who argued his £30,000 annual bonus was not fair has been awarded £118,223 in compensation after an employment tribunal found he was unfairly dismissed. Andrew Blyth, who earned £120,000 a year as Group Finance Director for Clockwork Group Holdings, a UK removals and storage company, was dismissed in December 2025.
The dispute arose in November 2025 when Blyth emailed company owner Courtenay Morison, expressing his view that his bonus calculation was unfair and should be significantly higher. Morison responded by stating the bonus amount had been agreed upon 12 months prior and that he was becoming increasingly disgruntled with Blyth's attitude, suggesting Blyth "seriously look at your position."
Following this exchange, Morison ceased contact with Blyth for six days. He then convened a brief five-minute meeting to inform Blyth of his redundancy. However, an investigation by the tribunal revealed that Morison had searched online for "Legitimate Reasons for Director Redundancy" just hours before this meeting.
During the tribunal, Morison claimed he had been considering Blyth's redundancy for months due to the company's financial constraints and the presence of three qualified accountants on the team. He stated that making Blyth's role redundant could save over £148,000.
Employment Judge Jacqueline McCluskey rejected this assertion, citing the lack of documentary evidence supporting Morison's claim of long-term consideration for redundancy. The judge noted that the only documentation showed Morison researching redundancy reasons on the morning of Blyth's dismissal meeting. "The Tribunal concluded that the operative reason in the mind of Mr Morison when he dismissed [Mr Blyth] was his disgruntlement and upset at [his] attitude in the email exchange with Mr Morison that his bonus was unfair and should be revised upwards," the ruling stated.
The tribunal ruled that Morison had acted in "bad faith" by attempting to present the dismissal as a redundancy when the primary motivation was annoyance over the bonus renegotiation. While Blyth found new employment in 2026, his current salary is less than his previous role. The compensation awarded covers his financial losses during his period of unemployment and anticipated future losses.