Attorney explains why HR exec caught in Coldplay 'cheating scandal' hasn't been fired

An attorney has explained why the HR executive caught in the viral Coldplay 'cheating scandal' hasn't yet been fired by the company.

It was only last week that Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot were captured on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert in Massachusetts, US, with the two sharing an embrace before spotting themselves on the screen.

While it's only rumours at this point, their panicked reaction certainly suggested that they might be having an affair, with frontman Chris Martin even joking that the two were 'either shy or cheating', and later offering a warning to anyone at another gig that they might appear on screen.

After the video went viral, the internet did its usual thing and quickly discovered that the two work together at Astronomer, a software company in the US, where Byron is the CEO and Cabot is the head of HR.

Now, not having an affair with the married CEO is probably rule number one in the HR handbook but as it stands, Cabot has only been placed on leave by the company and is still listed on the staff website, whereas Byron's formal resignation was confirmed last week.

Why hasn't Kristin Cabot left Astronomer?

Kristin may well have deactivated her LinkedIn account, but she hasn't released an official statement since the incident first went viral.

An attorney has now suggested that her exit from the company may well be far more complicated than Byron's.

Nicole Brenecki told the New York Post: “In a real-world big company, you can’t just fire someone because the headlines are ugly.

“There are likely contracts, internal investigations, and legal issues involved.

“If HR greenlit what happened with Coldplay, and there is a supporting paper trail, heads will likely roll. It just might take a few more days before the axe drops.”

Although we can't know everything from just a few seconds on the screen, their embrace certainly suggests that their relationship was consensual, and the legal experts agreed that she doesn't have much hope of keeping her job in the long term.

Employment attorney, William Cafaro added: "Like if you were to look for a picture of ’cause’ [for firing] in the dictionary, it would show a picture of the head of HR having a public affair with the CEO of the company."

What has Astronomer said about Andy Byron's resignation?

In a statement on LinkedIn at the weekend, they penned: "As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.

"Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.

"Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI.

"While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not. We’re continuing to do what we do best: helping our customers with their toughest data and AI problems."