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The Telegraph has an exclusive report out today ahead of the big board meeting of Aston Villa. CEO Keith Wyness is said to be suing for “constructive dismissal” — with a potential cost to the club of £6million. Needless to say that further financial pain only compounds the pain on a balance sheet full of red numbers already.
The last we heard from the club — Wyness was suspended from his post. John Percy says that Wyness has officially left the club and board. The legal action is against chief commercial offer Luke Organ and executive assistant Rongtian He.
I’m not a lawyer and not even going to play one on this blog. The suit — or threat via media of one — could all be part of a settlement fight with Wyness trying to make sure he gets paid on the way out the door. It is yet another financial kick in the pants from a leadership group who has over seen some huge spending.
What is Constructive dismissal?
Constructive dismissal is when you’re forced to leave your job against your will because of your employer’s conduct.
The reasons you leave your job must be serious, for example, they:
— don’t pay you or suddenly demote you for no reason
— force you to accept unreasonable changes to how you work - eg tell you to work night shifts when your contract is only for day work
— let other employees harass or bully you
Your employer’s breach of contract may be one serious incident or a series of incidents that are serious when taken together.
If you do have a case for constructive dismissal, you should leave your job immediately - your employer may argue that, by staying, you accepted the conduct or treatment.
It must be stated that there has been no official communication from the club at all — but sadly that is par for the course when it comes to Aston Villa. The club have only released statements as reaction to media reports. Maybe that changes once the board meets and can talks face-to-face (or via skype for Tony Xia because he will still be in China). I doubt the meeting will be a pleasant one but it is necessary for the leaders of the club to get on the same page. Right now I’m not sure they are reading the same book.
Another date to add to the calendar — another tax bill is due on or around June 22. Look for more reports coming out of the Telegraph and other outlets around then as the checkbook has to come back out.