Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi denies liability for stroke victim

Advertising agency Saatchi Saatchi has been branded "despicable" by the family of a former creative director who was sacked after suffering a stroke. Personnel Today exclusively revealed in May 2006 that Mike Austin, a former creative director of Gulf Saatchi Saatchi in Bahrain, was dismissed just two weeks after having a stroke on his way to work. In the following weeks, the lease on his house was terminated and his pay was cancelled. Documents obtained by Personnel Today show that Saatchi Saatchi acknowledged Austin had suffered a "tragic illness" and that his case was "complex and distressing". But the company has insisted that because the agency in the Gulf is run as a franchise operation, it is not under its control. However, Johann Xavier, Saatchi Saatchi's chief financial officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has now offered the Austins $100,000 (£49,838) as a "goodwill payment" without admission of liability. A letter from the company's legal...

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