A senior technology executive, Shannon Burns, has been given the legal right to seek £76 million in compensation after a disability discrimination case against Gitpod, a company now owned by OpenAI. Burns, who has ADHD, was fired from her £220,000-a-year position as vice-president of engineering in June 2023, following an incident during a work trip in Austria in April 2023. During the trip, Burns, who had been drinking, had difficulty accessing her hotel room due to forgetfulness linked to her ADHD and ended up sleeping in a sauna. Gitpod's CEO, Johannes Landgraf, cited concerns about her "lack of professional accountability" as the reason for her dismissal. Burns claims that Gitpod has used legal tactics to delay the case and put pressure on her. She is seeking £76 million in compensation, based on calculations of her lost potential earnings. The Birmingham Employment Tribunal has rejected Gitpod's attempt to limit the compensation to £1 million, allowing Burns to formally pursue the full amount. Gitpod has also been ordered to reveal the value of its sale to OpenAI. Burns holds shares in Gitpod, currently estimated to be worth about £2.6 million, with potential value of up to £21 million in four years if the acquisition by OpenAI for $400 million (£302 million) is accurate. The tribunal acknowledged that Burns' case involves an exceptionally high pay history, and her schedule of loss includes both salary and equity losses. Gitpod argued that Burns' claim was "extraordinary" and criticized the arguments in her schedule of loss as "palpable nonsense." However, Employment Judge Rachel Wedderspoon noted that Burns' valuation had "little reasonable prospect of success" only if expert reports were absent. The judge also pointed out that such claims are more common in the US legal system. Burns' lawyer, Tara Grossman, called the tribunal's decision a "resounding success" and criticized Gitpod for using a "draconian application" to limit the claim. She emphasized that Burns' potential earnings in the tech industry were significantly higher than her current prospects, as she is now retraining to become a therapist. A full compensation hearing will be held at a later date, pending Gitpod's appeal of the previous tribunal ruling.