[karajorma]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21753342

A charity worker has been sacked after his bosses saw footage of him wrestling a shark in Australia while he was on sick leave for stress.

Paul Marshallsea, 62, from Merthyr Tydfil, grabbed the shark by the tail as it swam towards children and dragged it to deeper water off Bulcock Beach.

His story made headlines across the world and lifeguards praised him.

He has been sacked by the Pant and Dowlais Boys and Girls Club which blamed a "breakdown" of confidence.

Mr Marshallsea and his wife Wendy, 56, were on extended sick leave for work-related stress from the charity they had worked 10 years for.

They visited friends on a two-month break in Australia and were having a barbecue on the beach when a fin was spotted in the water.

Mr Marshallsea ran into the sea where he was filmed dragging the 6ft-long (1.8m) dusky whaler shark into deeper water.

The charity's former project co-ordinator, said: "If I hadn't gone in to save the kids on that beach that day my wife and I would still have a job."

Okay, while I understand that he was on sick leave and not on holiday, what do people at this charity expect someone to do when on extended sick leave for stress?

[Dragon]

Must be Dilbert's company running this charity. It's exactly a kind of move I'd expect from the PHB. Really, how can managers actually be this stupid?

[redsniper]

Well he wasn't too stressed out to wrestle a shark, so he must have been faking it.

[Klaustrophobia]

some people work out to relieve stress.  apparently some fight sharks.

[Qent]

Are they even allowed to factor his (legal) actions while on sick leave into their decision?

[headdie]

I smell unfair dismissal.

[Veers]

I thought to remove stress, you do something un-or less stressful. In some cases, a holiday.

Thats perfectly valid I think. And he stepped in to save lives.. oh wait. Sack him.

Unfair.

[watsisname]

He has been sacked by the Pant and Dowlais Boys and Girls Club which blamed a "breakdown" of confidence.

wrestling a mother****ing shark

Sounds like he's pretty confident to me. :V

[Lorric]

These people obviously don't understand stress.

What better way to relieve stress than to receive the high of becoming a hero?

Alternatively, what do you think it would have done for his stress to watch some kid get eaten by a shark?

Also, his doctor had advised him to go on holiday to help his stress. I don't know how far into his holiday he was, it might have already done him a power of good at this point.

[Wobble73]

He has been sacked by the Pant and Dowlais Boys and Girls Club which blamed a "breakdown" of confidence.

wrestling a mother****ing shark

Sounds like he's pretty confident to me. :V

I think it was the Boys and Girls Club's confidence in him that broke down!

[Flipside]

I read about this yesterday, the ironic part is, he could have been disciplined for going on holiday whilst on sick leave, however, they may have shot themselves in the foot by stating it was about his physical condition when he was suffering from a mental problem.

Don't get me wrong, I think the company are assholes for sacking him, but what they did wrong here was largely procedural (and possibly level-of-response) error under current UK employment law. He should have been given a written warning at worst.

The real ironic part is that the charity is for Children. I'd be very worried about sending my child to a 'Boys and Girls Club' where the staff are sacked for saving childrens' lives whilst being ill...

[Ghostavo]

Whilst unfit to work you were well enough to travel to Australia and, according to recent news footage of yourself in Queensland, you allegedly grabbed a shark by the tail and narrowly missed being bitten by quickly jumping out of the way.

Unless their following words were:
"We expect more from our employees. The fact that you didn't skin the shark and made a collar out of their teeth means you do not have the qualifications to be in our charity."

I lost my faith in humanity.

[Klaustrophobia]

and a 62 year old man fighting a shark to save kids doesn't do anything to restore it?

[el_magnifico]

Well, we all know how the saying goes. "No good deed goes unpunished."

This man should have been given a raise. He's pure awesomeness. "Oh! My self-esteem is a bit low today. I'd better go wrestle that shark and save some lives." Awesome, I say.

[StarSlayer]

I'll find save the child for free, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten.

[Al-Rik]

This man should have been given a raise. He's pure awesomeness. "Oh! My self-esteem is a bit low today. I'd better go wrestle that shark and save some lives." Awesome, I say.

IMHO the Charity was only looking for a legal reason to fire him. He was on the "to fire at the next possibility" list. And most guys on such a list are not nice persons.
I wouldn't wonder if the co-workers of that guy are happy to never see him again....

[Scourge of Ages]

IMHO the Charity was only looking for a legal reason to fire him. He was on the "to fire at the next possibility" list. And most guys on such a list are not nice persons.
I wouldn't wonder if the co-workers of that guy are happy to never see him again....

It's not impossible, but there should be a lot of evidence for it in order to assume that instead of "taking a vacation in order to relieve stress".

QUICK EDIT: I read the counterpart to this story on Yahoo!, and the comments section lived up to its reputation. A surprising number of people were saying that he should have been sacked for going on vacation when taking a sick day. There's a very important detail there: sick day /= sick leave. At least in the USA, "sick days" are payed days off, and rationed out sparely; "sick leave" as far as I know, is unpaid. So it's not like it was costing the charity anything to let this guy take 2 months off, because what kind of charity would pay somebody for two whole months that they aren't there?

[Klaustrophobia]

terms may vary by employer, but in the government/military, sick leave = sick day.  you can use accumulated sick leave for extended absences for illness/injury, but once you're out you start taking the time off unpaid.  "leave" is a paid day off, be it sick or "annual" (vacation).