Hello everyone,

We are long overdue in giving you an update on the status of our claim against the Tour, so thank you for your patient support.

We regret to report that there is no good news. Two weeks ago, we learnt that our lawyers' appeal to the Supreme Court to challenge the overturning of the 2018 Employment Tribunal's remedy order for our case, has been refused. This order had been a positive outcome for our side following 4 years of deliberation by the Employment Tribunal, but that remedy was reversed after a challenge by the European Tour  (now called "DP World Tour") .

It will soon be 7 years since I was unfairly dismissed. The process has been traumatic, stressful and utterly disillusioning. Not only have we still not received £1 in compensation, but the process has cost us 75% of my pension pot.

The greatest injustice of all, is that HMRC continued to tax us at +45% on all our legal fees throughout the process, because I had to withdraw the legal expenses from my pension pot. Not only were we having to finance our legal fees from our pension reserves, but we were charged additional taxes by HMRC of £135,000. The European Tour on the other hand, were able to charge all their witness training, QC legal advisors and other costs against their corporation tax bill.

Just to remind you all, the Judge recommended at the preliminary hearing on the 2nd March 2016 that both sides should go for mediation as “this case was rather straight forward”. We readily agreed, but the European Tour refused categorically to consider mediation and maintained at that time that all rules were followed in my dismissal.

We were then faced with either abandoning the case completely and accepting my dismissal at age 60 without any compensation at all, or taking our case to the Employment Tribunal. We felt morally bound to stand up to this corporate bullying, so we lodged our case with the Tribunal. It was only after we did that, that the European Tour eventually admitted that my dismissal had been unfair (but only on the procedural grounds).

Over the following six years, our case has continued to set legal precedents, which our legal team has considered as grossly unfair. Hence they worked pro-bono for the appeal to the Supreme Court.

This judgement has set a legal precedent in favour of corporate bullying and the use of legal delay and expenses to undermine an employee’s clear case of unfair dismissal. The precedent set by HMRC in taxing an employee's legal expenses at +45%, when those legal fees were used solely to prove that the dismissal was unfair and to win a favourable remedy judgement, is totally unfair.

We have brought this tax issue to the attention of our MP, Ian Blackford the SNP leader at Westminster, and we fully intend to continue highlighting the unfairness of this tax burden on individuals, whereas companies can charge all their costs against corporation tax. 

This lack of a fair process was recently demonstrated most clearly and blatantly by the CEO of P&O, when he admitted publicly that the company had ignored employment laws and simply went ahead and dismissed 800 employees without any due process. Despite that public admission, not a single employee chose to take their case to the Employment Tribunal. The Government huffed and puffed, but no action was taken and the P&O ships are now sailing again with replacement crew.

We will continue to fight for justice through our MP and in the media. We will also keep you updated on the status of the final remedy.

Above all, we are hugely appreciative of your support throughout this grim ordeal. Each of you has lifted our spirits and we have been greatly touched by your support.

Thank you on behalf of myself, Chie and Alisa

Good evening to all our friends and supporters,

Today was a good day!

Thanks to your patience and support, we were finally able to conclude the 2 day Hearing of the European Tour’s Appeal against the unfair dismissal Remedy Judgement, which had been issued in June 2018. The actual Remedy Hearing from which the Remedy Judgement resulted was heard on the 11th & 12th January 2018, so it shows how long this process can take.

We thank you again for your financial support. Without it, we would not have been able to carry on and my former employers would have won their case by default. Our legal team were however able to launch a robust challenge in support of the Remedy Judgement over these past two days, and we are very happy with the case they presented.

The Judge again confirmed his formal judgement may take several weeks, even months, but we are convinced that we have done the right thing and we are confident of a positive outcome after nearly five years of waiting.

We are very grateful for your support and friendship.

All best wishes,

Scott, Chie & Alisa

Chie and I hope you are all keeping well and managing to cope with the challenges of the lockdown. These are extraordinary times, so despite the continuing challenges with our case, we are conscious that everything in life is relative and we are very fortunate.

We are not defined by the tribunal process, as we are comfortable in ourselves that we have done the right thing. However, your generous support both financial and emotional, has been incredibly important to us all. Never could we have imagined the costs and the amount of time this process has taken.

Someone reminded me recently of the message Martin Luther King wrote in his letter in April 1963, “Justice too long delayed, is justice denied”. It has been a long, stressful wait since the reluctant admission by the Tour in June 2016 that my dismissal had indeed been unfair.

The Remedy Hearing was finally held in January 2018, with the resulting judgement (delivered only in June 2018), being very favourable to our side. However, our joy was short lived, as the Tour immediately appealed against the Remedy Judgement, and we have been waiting for that session to be scheduled ever since.

The Coronavirus crisis caused the postponement of the Appeal Tribunal from the 31^st March 2020, until the 1 & 2^nd June. The Tour’s Appeal will now be held remotely, with the Tribunal Judge hearing presentations from the lawyers only using Skype. It will be possible for people to register in advance to listen in to the proceedings by sending an email to [email protected] (Case: EAT/0285/18/DA & EAT/0338/19/DA PGA European Tour v Scott Kelly)

Our barrister feels this process is not ideal from our perspective, but this two-year delay to the Tour’s challenge of the favourable Remedy Judgement, is quite long enough. Whatever the outcome of the Appeal, we are eternally grateful for your support throughout this long wait.

Thank you again and we will advise you of the outcome in due course.

With our warmest regards,

Scott & Chie

Dear supporters,

We hope you are all well and spending this time in isolation with your families. We are all well in our home, but we wanted to update you on our situation.

The Tour’s Appeal against the Remedy Judgement of June 2018 was due to be heard on the 31st March and 1st April 2020. Unfortunately, it was no surprise that this full hearing was cancelled, but a ‘directions hearing’, was held on the 31/3/20 between the judge and lawyers only, by telephone conference.

The judge directed that the Appeal Hearing should be re-scheduled as soon as possible, but under the current circumstances, this is not likely to be before June 2020.

The judge ordered that this hearing too will be convened using video conferencing technology with no witnesses present. Interested parties and media will however be able to request prior access to listen in remotely to the hearings.

We can advise anyone interested in joining the proceedings what steps need to be followed. The 2020 June date for the Tour’s appeal against the remedy judgement of June 2018, also happens to be the fourth anniversary of when the Tour finally admitted I had been wrongfully dismissed in June 2016.

We look forward to this matter being finally resolved, and we thank you again most sincerely for your continued support which has meant so much to us both.

With our best wishes for your safe passage through this unprecedented health crisis.

Scott, Chie & Alisa

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Today marks the special 4th anniversary of the preliminary hearing, which was held on the 2nd March 2016.

We understand some people have been suggesting that we are the party prolonging the resolution of the unfair dismissal claim we have against the European Tour. However, the facts are it was the Tour who categorically refused the Judge's recommendation at the Preliminary Hearing on the 2nd March 2016 to opt for a judicial mediation, as we had immediately agreed to do. Had the Tour agreed follow the judge's advice on that day, the matter would have been resolved by mediation 4 years ago.

At things stand now, we finally received the favourable judgement on  the 23rd June 2018, resulting from the Remedy Hearing held on the 11th and 12th January 2018. The Tour appealed immediately against that judgement and we are still awaiting for that appeal to be heard on the 31st March and 1st April 2020. That is over two years since the Remedy Hearing itself, and over four years since the Tour refused to attend judicial mediation.

The financial costs, stress and plain misery that this process has us caused cannot be adequately described. The delay and legal costs have decimated my pension pot, which I had slowly built up over 26 years working at the Tour. We still have another month to wait for the Appeal Hearing and then who knows how long we must wait again for the judgement after the 1st April 2020.

Your support has given us great comfort throughout this long wait. Chie and I truly thank you once again for helping us both financially and emotionally.

With our appreciation and grateful thanks,

Scott & Chie 

The 29th October marks the 4th “anniversary” of my unfair dismissal from the European Tour.

We have been waiting since June 2018 to hear from the Employment Appeal Tribunal regarding the dates for the appeal hearing. We have just received news this very morning, that the Appeal Hearing has been finally listed for the 31st March 2020!

It is important to remember that this entire saga through the Employment Tribunal process was set in motion because the other side refused to consider the Judge’s recommendation (as we had accepted), to resolve the matter through judicial mediation. We wonder how this can be viewed as a fair and balanced system? 

It is almost surreal that we now have to wait another 6 months in this uncertainty for the outcome of the Tour’s Appeal against the Remedy Judgement of June 2018! 

We continue to receive messages of support from many people and for these, we are extremely grateful.

Scott & Chie 

The appeal against the remedy judgement filed by the European Tour will not be stayed. 

We are now waiting to hear from the Employment Appeal Tribunal for the date of the appeal hearing. However, it may take several month yet again before a date is set for this appeal hearing.

We will continue to keep fighting into our fourth year, to defend the remedy judgement from June 2018 which is in our favour.
We really appreciate your support!

Scott & Chie

We are truly grateful for all your support and encouragement. 

We finally heard from the Employment Appeal Tribunal and a “hearing for directions” is now scheduled on 19 September. This is to determine whether the Appeal Hearing will be stayed or not.

We will keep you updated.

Our thanks again for your support.

Scott & Chie

Dear Friends,

We have been both amazed and humbled by your overwhelming generosity and messages of support. Our legal team has also been impressed by the level of commitment you have shown and we are asking them to push for a date for the appeal hearing.

We are eternally grateful for your support, from the smallest to the largest donations, every single one has been an inspiration. Thank you again! We will keep you updated on any progress. 

Scott & Chie

Wow! We reached over £31,000!!! 

We are really grateful to all your contributions, no matter how small it may be, every little contribution is a big help for us. 

Thank you so much!

Scott & Chie

Tchié et moi sommes très touchés par les messages de soutiens et les contributions de nos amis francophones. 

Vos soutiens et vos amitiés nous donnent énormement de courage en cette période très difficile. 

Nous vous remercions du fond du coeur!

Scott & Tchié

We are profoundly grateful to those who contributed to our campaign appeal.

We achieved our minimum target of £20,000 in such a short space of time! This will allow us to finally pay certain outstanding legal bills.

We are now aiming for our stretched target of £50,000. This will allow us to finance the future legal costs of defending the remedy judgement from last June, which is in our favour.

Thank you again for your support!

Scott & Chie

Thank you so much for your support and contributions! We have reached half way to our minimal target in a week from our campaign launch!

As for our case update, we still have no news as to when this appeal hearing will take place.... This is really a stressful period for us, but your support means a lot to us!

The cover photo of our campaign page was taken at the Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex in July 2015, a few months before my summary dismissal. I had a job which I really loved and enjoyed....

Scott (& Chie)