Can Jose Mourinho claim unfair dismissal?
With the news that Jose Mourinho has been “fired” after 17 months at Tottenham, without even getting a chance to manage at Super League level, you may be wondering whether he might be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal?
Firstly, it seems certain that Jose was not there long enough to claim. The right to bring a claim for unfair dismissal is available only to an employee who has been dismissed who, in most cases, has the requisite two years’ qualifying period of service. This would tend to exclude most current managers at the top of the game, particularly with the departure of Arsène Wenger from Arsenal in 2018 after 22 years with the club.
However, even if he had been there long enough, it seems likely that the Club would claim that the dismissal was based on the basis of one of the five potentially fair reasons: i.e. capability or qualifications, conduct, redundancy, breach of a statutory duty or restriction and “some other substantial reason” (known as SOSR). I will leave it to you to speculate which they might say applied.
And yet even if Jose did have a claim, it also seems unlikely that it would be financially attractive for him to pursue an unfair dismissal claim. The current statutory maximum he could recover in an employment tribunal is £89,493 and yet when Mr Mourinho left his old UK clubs, we are told that those dismissals cost the Clubs involved £23.07m, £8.30m and £19.60m. Of course, he will not have received all of that, but it seems unlikely that, given those sums, his share would have been as little as £90,000.
It is more likely that Jose was engaged, as most football managers are, on the basis of a fixed-term contract with pre-negotiated exit clauses in the event that they are politely asked to leave before the end of that fixed-term. In other words, given that football managers come and go so frequently, the parties anticipate what will happen if the manager does not perform as well as expected and build it into the manager’s contract. This may be simply to pay out the remainder of the term, but there may be enhancements designed to ensure that when the manager leaves, they do so quietly, or they forfeit those enhancements.
Nalders have a dedicated team of employment law specialists on hand to advise you on employment contracts generally and on any employment or commercial arrangements, you are thinking of putting in place. Contact Dale Band, Gayle McDermott, Lee Middleton or Luke Smith to discuss further on 01872 241414.