Young tech CEO sues company for age discrimination after being denied first-class flights

Young tech CEO sues company for age discrimination after being denied first-class flights Ben Szutor claimed he needed upgrades due to a ‘fear of flying’ - Bookmark A tech CEO who earned £110,000 a year launched a discrimination lawsuit against his own company after claiming he was denied first-class flights to alleviate a "fear of flying". Ben Szutor, 31, who once boasted of being recognised by Forbes on their ‘30 under 30’ list, upgraded himself to premium cabins for international business trips without informing investors, a tribunal has heard. An employment tribunal heard that Mr Szutor initially sought "more space and seating that reclines" for his travel. However, he later faced scrutiny regarding the medical necessity for such upgrades, as company policy mandated medical justification. He eventually secured a doctor's note citing his alleged "fear of flying" as causing "migraines" and "panic attacks". Despite this, the situation escalated, leading Mr Szutor to resign from the company, alleging age and disability discrimination. His subsequent claims were ultimately dismissed at an Edinburgh employment tribunal. Mr Szutor joined Skylark Lasers Limited in February 2020 as a laser engineer after graduating from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. The Hungarian-born engineer boasts on his LinkedIn that he was "recognised in Forbes 30 Under 30 for contributions to photonics and quantum technologies". Edinburgh-based Skylark Lasers is a leading designer and manufacturer of specialised UV lasers, founded in 2013. Less than two years after joining the company, in January 2023, he was appointed as chief technical officer and then in June was promoted to CEO. Though a "highly motivated and skilled engineer", Mr Szutor had "no prior experience" of being a CEO so training was offered by the company to get him up to scratch. The engineer’s salary was increased to a hefty £110,000 with a £40,000 bonus on the table if he could hit revenue targets and budget effectively. However, he did struggle to meet those targets and the company was operating at a loss. Despite the difficult financial situation, the young CEO decided to upgrade himself to business class and first class on flights to Japan and China without discussing it with his colleagues. On April 2024, in a meeting with Mr Szutor, a partner at Par Equity – Skylark’s financial backers – Paul Atkinson raised his concerns about the CEO’s indulgences. After the meeting, Mr Szutor emailed Mr Atkinson regarding his concerns. He wrote: “I considered your points with regards to my flight tickets and questions around retention rates. As I said, I have a fear of flying and I get very ill on long-haul flights. "I still flew out to San Francisco three times for business and never even considered upgrading myself as the business could not afford it. "I was also not short on time, so I could afford to just feel nauseous for a day or two when flying. "This year I’ve flown on three long-haul flights within three months over weekends with an extreme amount of work on my shoulders. "I decided to fly with more space and seating that reclines. "I filled out 12 appraisal documents, submitted a grant proposal and prepared a board pack among many other things on these flights, which I couldn’t have done any other way. "On my flight to China upgrading from business to first class made the flight cheaper and on the flight to Tokyo the pricing was similar if not lower. "I understand your points, and given my situation with the board I should have at least notified you." At a meeting in May 2024 the Chair of Par Equity"s board Ewan McLellan again raised concerns about Mr Szutor’s travel arrangements. He was "anxious about the impression which this would give to investors". Mr Szutor replied it was because of a medical issue, which was allowed under company policy, but he did not give any further information on what that issue was. In July 2024, responding to "significant turmoil" among the board of directors, Mr Szutor sent another email to Mr Atkinson addressing the concerns on his upgraded flights. He said: "Accusations were made for misuse of funds, flying on higher class to business meetings. "The extra cost of these were £5,800, yet these travels secured the company over £180,000 of sales. "As I said to you, I decided to fly on higher class for medical reasons, which I will be able to prove in due course.” Later that month, Mr Szutor emailed the board that he would be travelling to Taiwan and Hong Kong with another colleague for work. Mr McLellan replied that while the trips were important, "the company policy is economy class travel and this policy will not be changing while we are relying on investor funds to support the business". Mr Szutor replied: "As discussed previously, due to an existing medical condition, I am unable to fly long-haul without meeting certain requirements… "Please let me know if you and the board are unable to support my medical needs to attend these meetings." To this, Mr McLellan repeated the company policy, and Mr Szutor accused him of a "complete disregard of his medical needs". A meeting was organised for August 2024 to discuss these issues and have a capability review for Mr Szutor as CEO. At this meeting, Mr Szutor made a presentation about the trips, which the board agreed were "essential", and even said they were "happy" for him to travel business class – provided he presented his medical reasons to HR. The board showed Mr Szutor the company policy that stated this needed to be done, but he was sceptical and thought it could have been "edited". In October 2024, an occupational health physician concluded after a meeting with the CEO that "premium flight travel may be deemed a reasonable adjustment" in "preventing migraines" and "panic attacks". However, just a month later Mr Szutor confirmed he would be resigning from the company. He explained: "Members of the board put me under tremendous amounts of stress and pressure,causing me health issues, which they outright ignored, forcing me to go through an unnecessary occupational health examination to prove my conditions. "They have repeatedly burdened me with HR decisions concerning my employment during my international travels." The former CEO took the company to an employment tribunal in Edinburgh, alleging that he had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against on the grounds of age and disability. However Employment Judge Murdo MacLeod KC dismissed the claims, finding that he was permitted to travel first class and that the board had merely asked for medical reasoning. The judge concluded: "He was, on each occasion, permitted to travel first or business class. "The evidence does not prove that the [policy] was applied to [Mr Szutor] in the manner alleged. "They [the board] wanted to obtain medical evidence to support his contention that travelling other than by first or business class air travel was detrimental to his health. "In our judgement, the [board] did permit [him] to travel first or business class on long-haul flights, and in particular the trip to China. "With regard to the USA trip in October 2024, [Mr Szutor] undertook the booking for that trip himself, and the [board] was unaware as to the class of travel he booked. "In our judgement, it is not demonstrated that the [board] required [him] to travel economy class on that trip, and accordingly it cannot be said that the [board] failed to make such an adjustment. "Mr McLellan’s evidence was that he assumed that [Mr Szutor] had booked the flight business class. "We accepted that [he] was not forced to travel economy class by the [board]. [His] claim that the [board] failed to make reasonable adjustments must therefore fail, and it is dismissed."