Dr Kelly is an American who was employed by the University of Southampton as a senior lecturer. She had a work permit which allowed her to do that work until early 2006 but for some unexplained reason her visa was set to expire a year earlier, in January 2005. When the University realised this they felt they had no option but to suspend Dr Kelly in January 2005, without pay. In the event suspension was followed a few weeks later by dismissal. Shortly after that Dr Kelly was given permission to stay indefinitely in the UK. She asked the University to reinstate but they refused.