Executive sacked after 60,000 pound expenses claim

A tribunal heard that a senior executive earning £110,000 a year was sacked after he filed three years' worth of expenses for nearly £60,000 in one go.

 

in 2019, Paolo Porchetti was offered a lucrative settlement package to leave the company by his bosses at Brush Electrical Machines, after they grew "immensely frustrated" by his consistently poor work. It was not until after accepting the six months' salary settlement from the company that Mr Porchetti then submitted the expenses - with some claims dating as far back as 2015. 

 

Alongside the expenses request, he also returned a broken laptop, and a company car requiring thousands of pounds worth of repairs. Mr Porchetti's bosses then reduced their settlement offer to £10,000, refused full payment of the expenses, and fired him. 

 

 "Mr Porchetti mentioned that he had three years' worth of expenses to claim, the receipts/evidence for which he had kept in a shoebox. "[But he] deliberately chose not to disclose or reveal the extent of them at that stage because he knew it would jeopardise the settlement discussions" the tribunal said.

 

The sales director has won a claim for unfair dismissal after employment judge Victoria Butler ruled it was unfair because it was carried out too quickly and lacked proper procedure. Brush must pay a two-week wage sum to Mr Porchetti - which went unpaid in July 2019 - but he will not receive any compensation because he was judged to have contributed to his sacking.

 

Whitestone Solicitors

Rochdale