A food delivery website has been ordered to pay over £60,000 in compensation to a former employee who was unfairly dismissed for working abroad remotely. Tanveer Shah, a sales manager for Stoke-based Foodhub, was sacked after the company discovered he had been working from Egypt without authorisation.
Mr Shah, who lives in the Vale of Glamorgan, was hired as a field sales executive in 2018 and quickly rose to UK field sales manager. In August 2022, chief executive Ardian Mula noticed Mr Shah's expenses were far lower than expected for a national role, indicating he had only travelled away from home on six or seven occasions in the previous three months. When confronted, Mr Shah argued he did not need to be in the field to do his job, but Mr Mula accused him of stealing money and dismissed him on the spot.
At an employment tribunal, Mr Shah admitted he had been told to spend four to five days a week in the field but claimed the change was not properly managed. He said he had been in Egypt on holiday, contracted Covid-19, and was unable to return to the UK, so he worked remotely. However, he could not recall how long he had been there. The tribunal found that the subsequent appeal process was a sham, orchestrated to achieve a predetermined outcome of dismissal.
Judge David Maxwell awarded Mr Shah £61,419 in compensation, noting a deterioration in his mental health due to prolonged unemployment and financial strain. Foodhub, which operates in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand, was founded in 2008 and employs over 1,000 people.
