All around towns across the country brightly coloured posters proclaim the imminent arrival of Geraldo Pecorino’s traditional, family, travelling circus. Geraldo’s round red face smiles out inviting all to gaze and wonder at Alice and Maximillian’s amazing feats on the flying trapeze, to gasp in amazement as Little Fat Stan the human cannon ball is propelled at speed across the circus ring, to laugh at the crazy antics of Micky the clown and his chums, and to applaud as Daisy the elephant dances daintily on her hind legs. But in reality, Geraldo is not smiling at all.

He is very worried about the future of his circus. His star performers may help bring in the crowds, but they are also causing him a variety of managerial headaches.

Alice is his longest-serving artiste. For thirty-five years, partnered by a succession of male trapeze stars, she has nightly swung and somersaulted high in the air above a safety net, before descending to take her bow. Unfortunately, over time the once lissom Alice has become less agile and has put on a great deal of weight. As a result, when she enters the ring in her leotard and climbs up to her trapeze the audience increasingly see her as a figure of fun. When she carries out her final triple somersault and falls into the safety net, the structure wobbles alarmingly, causing the audience to scream with laughter. The contrast with the much younger and very athletic Maximillian is becoming more and more obvious, and he is not happy. ‘Find me a new partner,’ he says, or ‘I will find a better circus to work for.’ But what can Geraldo do? Alice is well paid and popular among the troupe. For several months he has been able to placate Maximillian by saying that he cannot find a replacement for Alice, but now a perfect new partner for Maximillian has become available. A beautiful 18-year-old trapeze artist called Melanie who has the rare capacity to carry out a Russian-style, back-flip, quadruple somersault has left a rival circus and is begging Geraldo for a job. Can he sack Alice? Can he redeploy her?

Redeployment would be preferable but the only suitable job he has for her would involve performing with Micky and his crazy clowns. Alice would get the laughs, but it would be much less well-paid work and undignified for a senior artiste with years of loyal service behind her.

Geraldo’s second managerial headache concerns another long-serving employee. Jethro has for many years acted as keeper and trainer of Daisy the elephant. They are devoted to one another. Every day Jethro feeds her, cleans her wagon, takes her for walks, washes her and then, in the evening, the two of them perform together to the delight of the audience. For many this act is the highlight of the circus. But six months ago an unfortunate accident occurred. In the middle of their act a large light bulb exploded above the circus ring, which gave Daisy a terrible fright. She panicked and instead of continuing to dance, she charged at Jethro and tossed him into the air. He sustained serious back and neck injuries in this accident and has been in and out of hospital ever since. Geraldo now realises that Jethro will not be able to return to work again for many more months. Daisy is back to her old self and has apparently bonded well with her new keeper, Geraldo’s daughter Romola. Jethro visits her when he can, but he comes with his carer and is unable to get up out of his wheelchair. What should Geraldo do? He is still paying Jethro but cannot afford to continue doing so for ever. Can he dismiss him? Should he try to reach a financial settlement, and if so would his insurance company reimburse him?

And finally, what is Geraldo to do about Little Fat Stan, his much-loved but increasingly awkward human cannon ball? Stan has worked in the circus for years, delighting generations of audiences with his acts. He started out as a tumbler, then as he got older he turned to fireeating and knife swallowing, before winding up being fired nightly from a cannon across the ring through several paper hoops, and landing spectacularly in a meticulously placed bouncy castle. Stan is not happy. He feels his life is unfulfilled and he wants to change direction. Stan has dealt with his depression in the past by drinking heavily, but has now managed to stop.

Instead he has found great solace by becoming an active Christian. He attends churches in each town that the circus visits and continually regales the other performers with stories about how his faith has changed his life. But this has caused difficulties for Geraldo because Stan has said that he will not in future be available to perform on Sundays or at any time over the Christmas and Easter periods. He has asked Geraldo if he could give up performing and assist him in a management role, taking responsibility for publicising the circus. Failing that he would like to run the box office. But these jobs are already taken and are not, in truth, suitable for Stan.

Geraldo insists that he can only employ him as a specialist performer. What should Geraldo do? Mondays and Tuesdays are the days the circus does not put on a performance and on which everyone takes time off. Two performances are mounted every Sunday, and Easter and Christmas are periods when audiences increase substantially. Should he threaten to sack Little Fat Stan? Could he employ someone else to be a human cannon ball on Sundays, and reduce Stan’s wages to compensate?

The worry of what to do about Stan, Jethro, Maximillian and Alice causes Geraldo to suffer many sleepless nights.

Questions

1. Geraldo decides that he has no choice but to employ Melanie as a replacement for Alice.

He tells Alice that from next week onwards she will have to perform alongside Micky and his clowns. Her role will be to act as his foil and a victim of his many practical jokes. For the next six months she will be paid the same salary that she currently earns. After this date it will be reviewed. Assuming that she is unhappy with Geraldo’s decision, what possible legal claims might Alice be able to bring? What defences might Geraldo be able to deploy were Alice to take her case to an employment tribunal?

2. Geraldo decides to dismiss Jethro, offering him a one-off payment of £25,000 by way of a full and final settlement. What possible legal claims could Jethro bring were he to reject Geraldo’s offer? What action could Geraldo take to minimise his chances of losing these cases in court?

3. Geraldo decides to allow Little Fat Stan to take Sundays off and to take his annual leave over the Christmas and Easter periods. Another performer will be trained up to take his place at these times. In return Geraldo will reduce Stan’s pay by 20%. What possible legal claims might Stan be able to bring? How might Geraldo be able to defend himself were the dispute to reach a tribunal hearing?