A high-flying finance boss who was sacked over an argument about his £30,000 annual bonus has won £118,000 in compensation.
asserted
who → fly → compensation
Andrew Blyth was removed from his £120,000-a-year director job in a 'redundancy sham' after he complained to his boss that his bonus wasn't 'fair' and that it should have been much higher.
asserted
it → remove → boss
After being 'disgruntled and upset' about the complaints, Courtenay Morison, chairman and director of Clockwork Group Holdings, which describes itself as 'one of the leading UK removals and storage companies', ousted Mr Blyth in a fake redundancy.
asserted
which → describe → redundancy
He even searched online for 'Legitimate Reasons for Director Redundancy' the morning before he removed Mr Blyth as Group Finance Director for Clockwork in December 2025.
asserted
he → search → December
Now, at an employment tribunal in Edinburgh, Mr Blyth has won £118,223 for unfair dismissal.
asserted
Blyth → win → dismissal
Andrew Blyth (pictured) was sacked from his £120,000-a-year finance director job in a 'redundancy sham' after he became embroiled in a bitter row over his £30,000 bonus
The accountant told company owner Courtenay Morison (pictured) that he didn't think his bonus was 'fair' for the year and that it should have been much higher.
asserted
it → picture → year
In November 2025, Mr Blyth had emailed Mr Morison about his views on the calculations of his bonus for that year, saying that it was 'unfair' and should be much higher.
asserted
it → email → year
After Mr Blyth said that they were not going to 'completely agree' because they had already discussed this issue, Mr Morison said that they had agreed the bonus 12 months ago.
asserted
they → say → bonus
Mr Morison said: 'No that is not right or fair.
asserted
that → say → ?
We agreed the bonus 12 months ago.
asserted
We → agree → bonus
I'm not changing what was agreed back then.
asserted
what → change → ?
You'd be furious if I changed the goal posts if the other way round.
asserted
I → change → posts
I'm becoming more disgruntled/upset with your attitude to what you perceive to be right and fair.
asserted
you → become → attitude
I think you need to seriously look at your position.'
asserted
you → think → position
Mr Morison then completely cut contact with Mr Blyth until six days later, even though they would normally have contact most days.
asserted
they → cut → contact
He invited Mr Blyth to a meeting, which lasted five minutes, and he said that he was making him redundant.
asserted
him → invite → meeting
On the morning, just a few hours before the meeting, Mr Morison sent messages to HR saying he had researched 'legitimate reasons for director redundancy'.
asserted
he → send → redundancy
Giving evidence at the tribunal, Mr Morison said that he had been thinking about making Mr Blyth redundant for months because the company could no longer afford to keep his position.
uncertain
company → give → position
However, Employment Judge Jacqueline McCluskey said that he could not have been thinking about the redundancy for months as he had only searched the redundancy the morning of his meeting with Mr Blyth.
uncertain
he → say → Blyth
It was ruled that the company should pay £118,223 in compensation to cover his financial losses during unemployment and his future losses.
asserted
company → rule → unemployment
Mr Blyth found employment in 2026, but he earns a lower salary than he did.
asserted
he → find → salary
Judge McCluskey said: 'His evidence was that he had been thinking about doing so for a period of months.
'
asserted
he → say → months
His evidence was that this was because there were three qualified accountants in the accounts team, the accounts team was top heavy and by making [his] post redundant he could make a saving of over £148,000.'
uncertain
he → be → 148,000
She ruled that Mr Blyth had been unfairly dismissed because Mr Morison had acted in 'bad faith' by trying to 'dress up the dismissal as redundancy' when he was annoyed about him trying to renegotiate his bonus.
asserted
him → rule → bonus
Judge McCluskey said: '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.
'
asserted
bonus → say → Morison
Mr Morison said himself that he was disgruntled and upset.
asserted
he → say → ?
That is not to say that Mr Morison might not have had in his mind on the morning of December 10, 2025 how to dress up a dismissal for that reason as a redundancy.
uncertain
Morison → say → redundancy
'That does not mean that the operative reason in the mind of Mr Morison when he dismissed [him] on 10 December 2025 was redundancy.
asserted
he → mean → December
In reaching this conclusion the Tribunal was also mindful that there was no documentary evidence that redundancy or potential redundancy of [his] position had been in Mr Morison's mind for months as he asserted.
asserted
he → reach → months
The only documentary evidence provided showed that it was only a couple of hours before [his] dismissal meeting that Mr Morison had carried out an online search about "Legitimate Reasons for Director Redundancy".
asserted
Morison → provide → Redundancy
'The absence of any documentary evidence prior to the dismissal date was a factor which the Tribunal weighed in the balance when concluding it was more likely that Mr Morison had not been thinking about making [his] role redundant for months.'
asserted
role → weigh → months
The Aporia
