A female executive who was sacked for allegedly becoming so drunk at a work event that she slept in a sauna was discriminated against due to her ADHD, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Shannon Burns, who earned £220,000 a year as vice-president of engineering at German firm Gitpod, was dismissed for her behaviour at an off-site event in Lofer, Austria, in 2023.

She was told her behaviour had “eroded trust and confidence” and she should “lead by example” as a senior employee of the software development company.

Burns, who used to work at US technology giant Slack before she was headhunted for the role at Gitpod in the UK, said her male colleagues were “far more intoxicated” and faced no punishment. She also claimed there was a “tech bro” culture at the company.

• ‘Tech bros’ sued by woman who slept in sauna after drunken nightBurns, who was diagnosed with ADHD in 2015, claimed she was discriminated against by her former company for both her sex and disability. Employment judge Rachel Wedderspoon dismissed Burns’s claim of sexual discrimination, noting her “lack of professionalism” had nothing to do with her gender.However, the judge backed the former executive’s disability claim, saying Burns’s ADHD had contributed to a “great deal of forgetfulness”, including losing the keys to her hotel room on the night of the off-site function. Burns is now eligible for compensation.The tribunal was told that Burns, who was hired in late 2002, had requested an ADHD coach in February 2023 after feeling “deeply overwhelmed” with her workload and experiencing a high level of anxiety. Concerns were raised in March 2023 about Burns’s performance, with Johannes Landgraf, the Gitpod chief executive, telling a colleague that Burns was “not a superstar” and that he would not hire her again.Landgraf was not aware of her disability at the time, the tribunal was told.At the team-building event in Austria in April 2023, Burns and other staff, including Landgraf, had been drinking. It was noted Burns, who had been experiencing a “very difficult period” in her life at the time, had cried and appeared drunk at the event, including “slurring her words”.Burns was attending a team-building event in Lofer, Austria in April 2023 when the incident occuredALAMYLater that evening Burns went back to her room but could not find her key and was unable to wake her roommate to be let in. The tech executive eventually gave up and went to sleep in the sauna.The tribunal was told Burns later received a message from a senior male executive who said she must “lead the team by example” and “stay in control”. He went on to say that he had heard comments that Burns had “got too drunk and fallen asleep in the sauna room”.• ‘Day-one’ employment rights spark business backlashAfter the event Landgraf had concerns about Burns’s “lack of professional accountability” and behaviours which were “incompatible with executive responsibility”. In June, Burns was invited to a meeting where she was dismissed.In her witness statement, Burns said: “My male colleagues were drinking alcohol/drunk at the off-site but I was the one who was dismissed.” The judge said Burns had accepted her “impairments were exacerbated by the consumption of alcohol”.Upholding her disability discrimination claims, Wedderspoon admitted Burns had consumed “quite a lot” of alcohol on the night she was locked out of her room. “However, being disorganised and forgetful may be features of ADHD,” she said.“Insofar as [Burns] was criticised for being locked out in the evening the tribunal finds that this was likely in part to be as a result of the combination of her alcohol consumption and her forgetfulness which is something arising from her disability of ADHD.”The tribunal dismissed her claims of sex discrimination. “She displayed a lack of professionalism, namely lack of executive presence as vice president. That had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that [Burns] is woman,” Wedderspoon said. A hearing to decide Burns’s compensation will take place at a later date.