An employment tribunal in Bristol has asked a company to payout woman it sacked while on maternity leave.
The court according to reports told UKRI, an organisation that distributes funding for sciences on behalf of the Government to pay Dr Katie Lidster £23,000.
The payout If converted to Nigerian currency is over eleven million naira, Naija News noted.
Dr Lidster had returned to her office after a few months from maternity leave only to be told her role ‘no longer existed’.
The 38-year-old mother was demoted from her position at the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Naija News understands this happened to Dr Lidster while caring for her second child, Daisy, who had been born two months premature.
Due to complications, Daisy had to be born by C-section and was cared for in hospital for 53 days as she was severely underweight.
The mother was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder but had been seeing a counsellor and, seven months after the birt felt ready to return to work.
However, during an 11-minute phone call, her line manager informed her it would be inappropriate’ for her to return to the office. He told her the role no longer existed.
Subsequently, Dr Lidster was offered a four-day-a-week role with diminished responsibilities at the same company.
Five weeks later, a colleague sent her a copy of an advert for a job that was being advertised internally only for her to find out it was her company that advertised her role, which was eventually given to the person who had been covering for her during her maternity leave.
‘They had added one word to the job description and one responsibility, which I had been doing anyway,’ Dr Lidster, who lives in Devon but used to commute to London, told The Mirror.
Dr Lidster took up the matter to a court and won while being represented by her husband, a fellow scientist because they couldn’t afford a barrister.
Meanwhile, she had worked with the company for seven years before the incident.
Dr Lidster resigned from UKRI in December and took her case to an employment tribunal in Bristol, where the organisation admitted culpability.
A judge ordered UKRI, which distributes funding for sciences on behalf of the Government, to pay £23,000 plus interest.
Dr Lidster told The Mirror: “I feel a great sense of relief it is over and a burden has been lifted.
“It means I can now focus on spending quality time with my family, especially my girls and start to refocus my career.
“At the time I didn’t realise how long the whole process would take. They had taken my career away from me so I had no option but to fight for justice.”
A UKRI spokesperson said: ‘We do not comment on individual employment matters. However, we have conceded liability in this case and we wish Dr Lidster well in the future.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News