AstraZeneca wrongfully dismissed senior scientist, tribunal finds

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

AstraZeneca wrongfully dismissed a senior scientist working on one of its recently approved cancer drugs, a UK employment tribunal has found.

The tribunal ruled that the largest company in the FTSE 100 discriminated against James Muir — a leading scientist who had been developing the pharmaceutical company’s drug, Truqap — on the basis of a disability when it dismissed him for gross misconduct, according to a judgment published this week.

The tribunal found that investigators did not take into account his mental health disability. The tribunal said AstraZeneca failed to comply with an employment code on disciplinary procedures by not ensuring the impartiality of the appeals process.

Muir had worked at AstraZeneca, which has more than 8,700 employees in the UK, since 1998. He was the technical lead in chemical development for Truqap, which was approved by the US’s Food and Drug Administration in November to treat some forms of breast cancer.

He had a chronic mental health condition, suffering from depression and anxiety, and had on occasion taken extended leave because of his mental health, according to the ruling.

He was dismissed in December 2020 after a 22-year career for misconduct relating to bullying and harassment, after company investigators found that he made angry outbursts in meetings on a stressful project and other behaviour that amounted to “repeated inappropriate conduct”.

The dismissal came despite no written complaints being made against him.

According to the judgment, a union representative during the internal disciplinary process said: “[Muir] has had no prior issues, no warning, this is straight to dismissal. This does not feel right . . . this is not how the AZ process should work.”

The tribunal found that Muir’s “overly forceful” way of speaking to colleagues “arose as a consequence of his disability”, and that investigators and those conducting an internal appeal failed to take his mental health problems into consideration properly. Managers could have taken steps to support Muir rather than dismiss him, the tribunal said.

“This was not a case of the inappropriate behaviour being abusive or discriminatory and was instead a forceful outburst by a person experiencing a great deal of anxiety,” the judgment reads.

AstraZeneca acknowledged to the tribunal that Muir was disabled but disputed whether the company or its employees knew about his disability and whether he was asymptomatic when the harassment allegations were raised.

However, the tribunal found that Muir’s line manager and other relevant managers were aware of his disability. Muir’s line manager had referred to him as a “broken man” in correspondence seen by investigators.

The tribunal also raised “genuine concern[s]” about meetings held between the investigating officer and appeals officers and found they breached the Acas code that laid out best practice for disciplinary procedures. Muir will be entitled to a 10 per cent uplift in compensation when remedies are decided at a subsequent hearing because of the breach.

AstraZeneca said: “We respect this ruling and we look forward to the resolution of this case for all involved.”

Muir’s lawyer said that “whilst this has been a particularly difficult ordeal for him, [Muir] is pleased with the judgement and glad that he persevered to have his case heard by the employment tribunal.”