Reality star Luke Worley loses EE employment tribunal

Reality TV star Luke Worley has lost an employment tribunal against the telecommunications giant EE, following a hearing that took place in August last year.

Documents published on Friday show the Married at First Sight UK star had alleged he was unfairly fired by EE for taking off unauthorised holiday leave.

Signage - EE (Image: Nicholas.T.Ansell/PA Wire) In 2021, Mr Worley was working as a store manager at the EE store in Town Square, Basildon.

In September that year, Luke had booked off a week’s holiday at the start of the month.

He told his bosses he wanted to appear on a new TV show and "had to be free” from September 13 to September 22.

His line-manager at the time, Paul Redhead, told him that extra dates he requested were refused “after careful consideration” due to the impact on Luke’s store team, region and wider business

The new iPhone 13 was also launching at the time, which meant it was a busier trading period.

Former EE employee - Luke Worley (Image: Channel 4) However, he decided to jet off to appear on the Channel Four dating show, The Language of Love, hosted by media personality, Davina McCall.

As a result of the unauthorised leave, he was dismissed from his role following a disciplinary hearing on October 7 that year for his authorised absence.

After losing an appeal against his dismissal in December 2021, he started the employment tribunal process that month, claiming unfair dismissal, breach of contract, and disability discrimination.

Mr Worley alleged at the time he did not understand EE’s policy on absence because of dyslexia.

TV host - Davina McCall

All three claims were dismissed following the hearings last year as he had no “legitimate reason for absence”.

The judge found Mr Worley's belief employers allow staff to not turn up for work if they agree not to be paid and give reasonable notice as "incredible." 

The tribunal document said: “The claimant has not shown on the balance of probabilities that he was a disabled person at the time that this case is concerned with.

“So, the claimant’s claims of indirect discrimination because of disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments both fail."

It added the court found "both claims to be factually weak."

Mr Worley appeared in a season of Married At First Sight which aired on E4 in September, 2023.

The programme is a social experiment where singles are matched to marry total strangers by experts.

In the show, he met and married his wife Jay Howard, from Accrington, in Lancashire.

A month later it was reported that he was removed from the series after allegedly punching a co-star.