SHANNON BURNS WINS RIGHT TO PURSUE £76M GITPOD PAYOUT

Shannon Burns has won the right to pursue £76m in compensation from Gitpod, the company now owned by ChatGPT developer OpenAI, after winning a disability discrimination claim against it. The Birmingham Employment Tribunal has dismissed a Gitpod application that sought to cap any payout at £1m, a move her lawyers called "oppressive". Burns can now formally pursue £76,071,992, a figure she says reflects her lost potential earnings. If awarded in full, it would exceed the largest known UK employment tribunal payout, currently £4.58m. Gitpod has also been ordered to disclose to Burns the value of its recent sale to OpenAI.

Burns was dismissed as vice-president of engineering at Gitpod, a role paying £220,000 a year plus a £78,000 bonus, after being headhunted from Slack and Lyft in late 2022. She has ADHD, which she says causes her "a great deal of forgetfulness". During a company trip to Lofer, Austria, in April 2023, Burns, who had been drinking alongside Johannes Landgraf, Gitpod's chief executive at the time, and other staff, forgot her room key and slept in a sauna instead. She was dismissed following the trip. Burns says she developed post-traumatic stress disorder after her dismissal and has since left the technology industry.

Burns also holds Gitpod shares said to be worth around £2.6m, a stake she says could rise to £21m after four years. She alleges Gitpod has used "aggressive litigation tactics" to prolong the case and wear her down. The tribunal's dismissal of Gitpod's application means her full claim can now proceed. Gitpod must still disclose the value of its OpenAI sale as part of the case. The dispute continues before the Birmingham Employment Tribunal.