Sponsored by
Mum wins £27,000 from bookies over pregnancy insults
A MUM-of-four from West Yorkshire has landed a £27,000 payout after winning a sex discrimination case against bookies William Hill.
Shop manager Michelle Spurr, 28, was sent home for wearing a skirt by a boss who told her "You look a state" – because she was pregnant.
Ian Laycock, district operations manager, also told her "women should be at home in the kitchen" and discussed with a colleague who the father of her baby was.
The word "Bitch" appeared on her pay packet and she was not offered a permanent job because she was pregnant.
Ms Spurr, of Dewsbury, was awarded 27,065 by an employment tribunal in Leeds after winning her case for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.
She finally gave birth to baby Megan Rodd in November 2006 but she was four weeks premature which Ms Spurr believes was due to all the stress.
But her ordeal is not over as doctors have discovered that Ms Spurr is suffering from a pituitary tumour (a type of brain tumour) which is stopping her from working in her new job at Ladbrokes.
She told the YEP: "I was working as a shop manager in Heckmondwike, got pregnant, told my line manager and that's when the harassment started.
"I was diagnosed with a tumour in December and the stress of all this has not helped. It's all been going on nearly two years and it's been horrible.
"It's taken over my life. I have always worked full time, all my life and it was like saying I shouldn't be working. It's been a nightmare."
Ms Spurr is currently off sick from her job at Ladbrokes, Meanwood, due to the tumour which prevents her from driving.
"I just feel like I keep being punished. I am innocent but it's one blow after the next," she said. "My symptoms have got worse, I get headaches. I am poorly but I couldn't rest because of this."
Ms Spurr, who has four children aged seven, five, three and one, began working for William Hill as a customer services advisor before being promoted to deputy manager.
In January 2006 she was seconded to the Heckmondwike branch as shop manager where there soon became a vacancy.
The tribunal found that the permanent position was not offered to Ms Spurr because she was pregnant; instead it was advertised. But a similar position at the firm's Ossett branch was automatically given to a non-pregnant employee and was not advertised.
A tribunal judgement seen by the YEP, concluded: "The tribunal concluded that the action of the Respondent (William Hill) in failing to automatically appoint her to the role of permanent manager of Heckmondwike because she was pregnant amounted to a breach of the duty of trust and confidence."
It also found that William Hill had discriminated against her due to her pregnancy and her sex.
A William Hill spokesman said: "We have no comment to make."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
