By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:14 EST, 11 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:39 EST, 11 December 2013 . Andrew Kearns has lost his damages action for wrongful dismissal against Glencore UK Ltd . An oil trader sacked because he was said to be not in a fit state after a heavy night out in Singapore has lost his damages action for wrongful dismissal. Andrew Kearns, 38, was employed by Glencore UK Ltd from January 2009 until October 2010, when he was summarily dismissed for serious misconduct after missing a series of meetings on the business trip. Contesting the action at London’s High Court, Glencore said he failed to attend critical meetings in the morning, at lunchtime and in the afternoon of October 11 and it was the latest in a series of alcohol-related incidents. Mr Kearns agreed that he was out until 4.30am drinking with colleagues, but said it was not to greater excess than anyone else and the business meetings later that day did not require his compulsory attendance. Mr Kearns, of Rainham, Gillingham, Kent, received a signing-on bonus the equivalent of 325,000 US dollars (current value £202,000) when he joined the company and was on an annual salary of 225,000 US dollars (£140,000) plus other benefits. Mr Kearns, a married father of three, was not in court to hear Judge Richard Seymour QC make a costs order against him on the higher indemnity basis, with an interim payment due of £150,000. He said: 'This claim was ludicrous - it should never have been advanced.' At the start of the trial, the judge threw out the most valuable part of the claim - in respect of share options - as 'hopeless', leaving only the wrongful dismissal element which was worth £12,000 maximum. 'In those circumstances, this is about as abnormal a case of this type that one could imagine. There was no conceivable justification for any claim being made at any point.' Glencore’s counsel, Jonathan Cohen, had told the court that 'context is everything'. 'This is an industry where a mistaken decimal point might result in losses of a very substantial nature. An employer cannot be expected to allow an employee who allows himself to become inappropriately inebriated to remain in the workplace.' Asking for his client's costs today, Mr Cohen said: 'Mr Kearns was dishonest in his evidence. He sought to deny the inevitable. Mr Kearns was habitually drunk and that was the reason he so egregiously failed to perform the duties required of him. 'It was in Mr Kearns’s power to remedy his behaviour. When he went on that conference, he could have chosen not to go out until the early hours and get drunk and to turn up to the meetings he was required to, but he chose not to do that.' Contesting the action at London's High Court, Glencore said he failed to attend critical meetings and it was the latest in a series of alcohol-related incidents . He said that Glencore had made an offer to Mr Kearns earlier for him to discontinue the case, with each side paying its own costs. A relevant factor was Mr Kearns’s failure to accept the help Glencore offered, involving a doctor and a consultant who was a world expert on drug and alcohol addiction. Instead, he spent the next afternoon, when he should have been at work, in the pub. Mr Kearns, a married father of three, was not in court to hear Judge Richard Seymour QC make a costs order against him on the higher indemnity basis, with an interim payment due of £150,000 . 'This was a slap in the face for Glencore. This litigation is a slap in the face for Glencore. 'Mr Kearns has lost his job because of his own behaviour, his own very bad behaviour. 'Glencore did everything they could to help him during the employment until they got to the end of their tether. The tether would have been considerably shorter with the majority of employers. His dismissal was richly justified. 'Notwithstanding that, Glencore has then been forced to spend the best part of £400,000 defending a hopeless claim brought by someone who does not realise how tolerant Glencore were and how much they did to help.' Mr Cohen said that Mr Kearns’s absence record was 'appalling', being late or absent for at least 20 per cent of his service in London. His non-attendance at the conference was the final straw and he found himself between a rock and a hard place. Glencore’s case was that he was too drunk to attend while Mr Kearns’s was that he was not drunk, but stayed in bed as he had consumed too much and deliberately chose not to attend at least one of the meetings. Either way he was in repudiatory breach of contract. In his ruling, the judge said that Mr Kearns was an unsatisfactory witness, inclined to contest what, on the evidence, could not seriously be contested and to minimise the extent of his alcohol consumption and its consequences. He took no steps to limit his consumption or seek help but simply continued on his existing path, paying no regard to the adverse effects for Glencore. His approach could be summarised as 'doing it his way'. 'If, which I doubt, Mr Kearns did not simply sleep through the meetings which he missed, but consciously decided not to attend them, that in itself amounted to repudiatory breach of the contract which Glencore was entitled to accept by dismissing him summarily.'
Andrew Kearns was summarily dismissed for serious misconduct .
Glencore said he missed a series of critical meetings on a business trip .
The company said it was the latest in series of alcohol-related incidents .
Mr Kearns had made a claim for wrongful dismissal against Glencore .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:14 EST, 11 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:39 EST, 11 December 2013 . Andrew Kearns has lost his damages action for wrongful dismissal against Glencore UK Ltd . An oil trader sacked because he was said to be not in a fit state after a heavy night out in Singapore has lost his damages action for wrongful dismissal. Andrew Kearns, 38, was employed by Glencore UK Ltd from January 2009 until October 2010, when he was summarily dismissed for serious misconduct after missing a series of meetings on the business trip. Contesting the action at London’s High Court, Glencore said he failed to attend critical meetings in the morning, at lunchtime and in the afternoon of October 11 and it was the latest in a series of alcohol-related incidents. Mr Kearns agreed that he was out until 4.30am drinking with colleagues, but said it was not to greater excess than anyone else and the business meetings later that day did not require his compulsory attendance. Mr Kearns, of Rainham, Gillingham, Kent, received a signing-on bonus the equivalent of 325,000 US dollars (current value £202,000) when he joined the company and was on an annual salary of 225,000 US dollars (£140,000) plus other benefits. Mr Kearns, a married father of three, was not in court to hear Judge Richard Seymour QC make a costs order against him on the higher indemnity basis, with an interim payment due of £150,000. He said: 'This claim was ludicrous - it should never have been advanced.' At the start of the trial, the judge threw out the most valuable part of the claim - in respect of share options - as 'hopeless', leaving only the wrongful dismissal element which was worth £12,000 maximum. 'In those circumstances, this is about as abnormal a case of this type that one could imagine. There was no conceivable justification for any claim being made at any point.' Glencore’s counsel, Jonathan Cohen, had told the court that 'context is everything'. 'This is an industry where a mistaken decimal point might result in losses of a very substantial nature. An employer cannot be expected to allow an employee who allows himself to become inappropriately inebriated to remain in the workplace.' Asking for his client's costs today, Mr Cohen said: 'Mr Kearns was dishonest in his evidence. He sought to deny the inevitable. Mr Kearns was habitually drunk and that was the reason he so egregiously failed to perform the duties required of him. 'It was in Mr Kearns’s power to remedy his behaviour. When he went on that conference, he could have chosen not to go out until the early hours and get drunk and to turn up to the meetings he was required to, but he chose not to do that.' Contesting the action at London's High Court, Glencore said he failed to attend critical meetings and it was the latest in a series of alcohol-related incidents . He said that Glencore had made an offer to Mr Kearns earlier for him to discontinue the case, with each side paying its own costs. A relevant factor was Mr Kearns’s failure to accept the help Glencore offered, involving a doctor and a consultant who was a world expert on drug and alcohol addiction. Instead, he spent the next afternoon, when he should have been at work, in the pub. Mr Kearns, a married father of three, was not in court to hear Judge Richard Seymour QC make a costs order against him on the higher indemnity basis, with an interim payment due of £150,000 . 'This was a slap in the face for Glencore. This litigation is a slap in the face for Glencore. 'Mr Kearns has lost his job because of his own behaviour, his own very bad behaviour. 'Glencore did everything they could to help him during the employment until they got to the end of their tether. The tether would have been considerably shorter with the majority of employers. His dismissal was richly justified. 'Notwithstanding that, Glencore has then been forced to spend the best part of £400,000 defending a hopeless claim brought by someone who does not realise how tolerant Glencore were and how much they did to help.' Mr Cohen said that Mr Kearns’s absence record was 'appalling', being late or absent for at least 20 per cent of his service in London. His non-attendance at the conference was the final straw and he found himself between a rock and a hard place. Glencore’s case was that he was too drunk to attend while Mr Kearns’s was that he was not drunk, but stayed in bed as he had consumed too much and deliberately chose not to attend at least one of the meetings. Either way he was in repudiatory breach of contract. In his ruling, the judge said that Mr Kearns was an unsatisfactory witness, inclined to contest what, on the evidence, could not seriously be contested and to minimise the extent of his alcohol consumption and its consequences. He took no steps to limit his consumption or seek help but simply continued on his existing path, paying no regard to the adverse effects for Glencore. His approach could be summarised as 'doing it his way'. 'If, which I doubt, Mr Kearns did not simply sleep through the meetings which he missed, but consciously decided not to attend them, that in itself amounted to repudiatory breach of the contract which Glencore was entitled to accept by dismissing him summarily.'
damages action for wrongful dismissal against action for wrongful dismissal. Andrew Kearns, 38, dismissed for serious misconduct after missing a series of meetings on the business trip. Glencore said he failed to attend critical a series of alcohol-related incidents. Mr Kearns to attend critical meetings and it was the latest