Woman wins £48,000 in sex bias case

AN INDUSTRIAL tribunal has awarded a Sompting woman more than £48,000 in compensation, after she won her case involving sex discrimination by insurance company Legal and General.
By The Newsroom
Published 31st Mar 2005, 15:16 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 00:57 BST

Kerry Ramshaw, of Test Road, and another colleague, Nicola O'Donnell, were awarded a total of 76,933 by a tribunal in Brighton earlier this month.

Mrs Ramshaw was awarded 48,535 and Mrs O'Donnell was awarded 28,398.

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Mrs Ramshaw said she had been signed off work for almost two years with stress and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

She started working at Legal and General's offices in Hove in August, 1989, as a filing clerk, and over the years was promoted to managerial level.

She told the Herald: "I loved my job.

"I was proud to work for them but that has changed."

Mrs Ramshaw became pregnant in February, 2002, and in October that year, her son Roonie was born.

She said she was due to go back to work at the end of April, 2003, but the company did not have a job for her to go back to.

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Mrs Ramshaw suggested a part-time job share with Mrs O'Donnell, but that was turned down by bosses. With no job in sight, she contacted the company again.

"I was told 'we would not make you redundant, but you would have no choice but to resign'. It just felt as if my whole world had dropped out."

She did go back to work in June, 2003, for a short time but she was soon signed off with stress and has been off ever since.

Mrs Ramshaw said that she is hoping to return to work in the summer.

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She praised her husband, Tom, for his help through the ordeal and said she hoped to use some of the compensation for a holiday.

Elaine MacLean, human resources director for Legal and General, said: "We apologise to Mrs O'Donnell and Mrs Ramshaw and are extremely sorry for the distress caused by this matter.

"We believe wholeheartedly in the need for family-friendly policies for our employees and do offer a range of flexible working options, but accept that in this case there was obviously a breakdown in processes.

"We will study carefully the tribunal findings to see what lessons we can learn and in the meantime, our priority is to do everything we can to support Mrs O'Donnell and Mrs Ramshaw in their return to work."