Sex bias mum denied her £10,000 payout

Elizabeth Newman, 23, was sacked from her job at Sands Brasserie, The Street, Rustington, last year, when her boss found out she was pregnant.

She won her case at an employment tribunal and was awarded 9,700 in damages, but within weeks the business had crashed, leaving her without a penny.

She said: "My son Charlie is five-months-old now, and that is his money. I am spending what should be a wonderful time with my first child stressed out over finances. I can't just enjoy being a mum."

Elizabeth started work at Sands Brasserie, The Street, Rustington, as a full-time waitress and barmaid in May 2007. She found out she was pregnant four months later, and was stunned when she was asked to leave.

"I really enjoyed my job, and got on well with everybody. I was good at it.

"I was willing to work as far into the pregnancy as I was able, but I was never even given the chance to explain that. I was so shocked and devastated that I did what I was asked to do, and left."

At the time she and her partner, Ben Parker, 24, had just moved into their new home, also in The Street.

"Up until then, we were both working. After being told to leave, I even went as far as thinking about whether we could afford to have the baby or not.

"Ben is a self-employed builder, so when it rains, he doesn't work. With the wet summer we have had, things are really difficult."

She added that the decision to take Sands Brasserie, which was run by East Preston businessman Jamie Hawkins, to a tribunal, was based on injured pride, not on financial gain.

"I wanted to make them admit to what they had done. The money was an added bonus. "

Charlie was born just two weeks before the hearing, which took place in Southampton in July.

"I had just had a baby so my emotions were up and down. It was a waste of precious time I should have been spending with my new family."

Mr Hawkins, who also owns Coastal Coffee in The Street, admitted to sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal at the hearing, and was ordered to pay Elizabeth 9,700 compensation within 28 days.

On the day she was meant to receive a cheque, Elizabeth received a letter, telling her the company had gone into liquidation.

Away from the courtroom, Mr Hawkins denied the allegations. "I was advised by my lawyer that in these type of cases there was only a 50/50 chance of winning, so we went for a settlement."

He added that he too had been left out of pocket by the failure of Sands, to the tune of 100,000, and that he is now the director of a new company, formed to run the cafe and "give it a second chance".

Elizabeth, in the meantime, said she is living with no maternity pay or benefits, and with no job to go back to.

"This was all very regrettable," said Mr Hawkins, "The last thing

anyone would want to do is make their company bankrupt.

"The fact is that it was not making money, and it still isn't."

He went on to wish Elizabeth, and her new family, all the best.

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