Two construction executives were asked if they had been “tickling each other’s b——s” by their boss after their project made a £4 million loss.
Donal Coppinger and John McInerney were sacked on the spot by Jason Carey, the group chief executive of the civil engineering and construction contractor Careys, when they revealed their costs had skyrocketed, an employment tribunal heard.
Mr Carey had believed the project was on course to make £3.3 million but learnt it was actually expecting a £4 million loss.
The civil engineering boss then “lost his temper” and asked his senior executives: “What have you two been doing for the last 12 months? Tickling each other’s b——s?”
Mr Coppinger and Mr McInerney – who earned £120,000 and £145,000 respectively – were told: “Get out of my sight and leave today.”
Now, the pair have won an unfair dismissal case after a judge ruled their sacking was unfair as there had been no proper investigation.
However, they were told they would be awarded no compensation from Careys because of their “extremely serious failures” over company finances.
At some point in repsonsibility – I’d say very low down the totem pole too – people should be subject to US hiring and firing. At will employment plus whatever’s in the contract. This should apply to civil servants of course too.
Still, this is fun:
Mr Carey then said: “What the f—?” He asked: “How was this possible… how could this happen?”
Mr Carey called Mr Coppinger a “c—” and then said, “I always knew you were dodgy, shifty and untrustworthy” while pointing his finger at him. He then made the remark about ticking each other’s b——s.
The pair were immediately sacked and told that the next contact would be through HR.
More of this please. Especially in the public sector.
The post Only half right here first appeared on Tim Worstall.