An employment tribunal heard about a female executive at a software company who was fired for getting drunk at a work event, while her male colleagues, who were allegedly ‘far more intoxicated,’ faced no consequences.
Shannon Burns, who had an annual salary of £220,000, is now taking legal action for sex discrimination. She raised concerns about the prevailing ‘tech bro’ culture at the ‘male-dominated’ company that employed her.
Burns, an engineer, was recruited for a top position at Gitpod. She accepted the role with the assurance of a six-figure income and the possibility of an equity package valued at over £30 million.
However, soon after starting, issues emerged for Ms Burns – who suffers from ADHD and dyslexia -as she became aware of the problematic culture at company, it was heard.
The ‘trailblazing’ executive claims she was sacked after a ‘Hackathon’ work trip to Austria where she downed alcoholic shots with her boss and lost her hotel room key.
This was despite other senior male figures – including CEO Johannes Landgraf – also drinking and behaving in a way which she says was ‘far more damaging’ yet who ‘faced no action’.
The tribunal heard that American Ms Burns – who had previously worked for Silicon Valley firm Slack – was headhunted by German-based company Gitpod in late 2022 and appointed to the key leadership role of Vice President of Engineering.
After starting as a remote worker, based at her home in the West Midlands, in January 2023, Ms Burns told another female executive that she was feeling ‘overwhelmed and pressured’ which were exacerbating her symptoms of ADHD.
Shannon Burns, pictured outside the tribunal hearing, is suing for sex discrimination
Ms Burns complained of the rampant ‘tech bro’ culture at the ‘male-dominated’ firm Gitpod
The executive said she had started to hear from multiple women that Mr Landgraf had a reputation of being a ‘Tech Bro who liked to surround himself with fellow tech bros’ – then started to see that culture for herself.
Ms Burns explained that the ‘tech bro’ is a stereotype term referring to ‘mostly younger white men’ who ’embody aggressive, entitled, self-aggrandising, risk takers’.
It ‘often includes excessive drinking, confrontational and aggressive communication styles’, she added.
Ms Burns said that other female executives had highlighted the ‘problematic male-dominated culture’ within the leadership team on ‘multiple occasions’.
In March, she was made aware of plans for the Hackaton event which would take place at an off-site.
The executive relayed to Mr Landgraf worries from some engineers in her team that the event would be used as a test for who would be fired in the next round of layoffs, information the CEO found ‘concerning’, the tribunal heard
Ms Burns attended the off-site in Austria in April 2023 and she told the tribunal that she was ‘excited’ to meet her colleagues, who all work remotely across 14 countries.
It was heard that on the evening of April 5, during the off-site event in Austria, Ms Burns encountered a ‘slurring’ Mr Landgraf at a bar and he offered her a ‘shot of liquor’.
She was invited to take part in a ‘game’ which involved asking ‘difficult’ questions to one another about work.
Ms Burns said she was told by female colleagues that Johannes Landgraf (pictured) had a reputation of being a ‘Tech Bro who liked to surround himself with fellow tech bros’
Ms Burns said that other female executives had highlighted the ‘problematic male-dominated culture’ within the leadership team on ‘multiple occasions’
The panel heard the CEO referred to the Hackathon and asked a ‘mortified’ Ms Burns for the identity of engineers who had confided in her around their fears surrounding it.
The employee said she was ‘appalled’ by the behaviour of the CEO who was ‘so intoxicated and inappropriate that he could not recognise the damage he had just done by shouting these words over the blaring music at the bar, within earshot of the people he was talking about’.
Ms Burns told the tribunal: ‘By the end of the evening I was intoxicated but by no means more so than either Johannes or other male colleagues who were consuming alcohol.’
It was heard that at the end of the evening, Ms Burns had to spend the night in a suite-like room – which she said had a sauna in it – after she got locked out of her hotel room.
Ms Burns said when she woke the following morning, she had only a short amount of time to pack and make the shuttle bus back to the airport.
That day, she received a message from a senior male executive who, referencing the events of the night before, said that Ms Burns must ‘lead the team by example’ and ‘stay in control’.
The executive described feeling ‘admonished for drinking too much’ when she had ‘not had more drinks than most of the rest of the people there that night, including the CEO’.
In June 2023, Ms Burns was ‘unexpectedly’ called into a meeting with two executives who told her that her employment at Gitpod was being terminated with immediate effect.
The decision was due to ‘the way I showed up at the off-site (which) eroded trust and confidence in leadership, team and others at the company’, it was heard.
The West Midlands Tribunal Centre in Birmingham, where Ms Burns is bringing her case
Immediately after her dismissal, Mr Landgraf and other senior figures held meetings with staff who reported to Ms Burns’ in which they were told she had been sacked for ‘performance issues and for being drunk at the off-site’.
Bringing her claims to the tribunal, Ms Burns said: ‘My male colleagues were drinking alcohol/drunk at the off site but I was the only one who was dismissed.
‘One of my male colleagues (Johannes) behaved in a far more damaging way for both his own reputation and for Gitpod after ‘consuming alcohol’ at the offsite.’
Ms Burns is also suing for disability discrimination as she believes her dismissal arose from her ADHD.
Gitpod deny that she was fired for being drunk and say they were unaware of her disabilities.
The hearing continues.
