A senior journalist on an award-winning regional newspaper has been given the go-ahead to make a claim for sex discrimination after telling a hearing she was too ill after the birth of her baby to go back to full time work.

Caroline Culot (31), a staff reporter in the Norwich-based Eastern Daily Press for seven years until she was sacked in 1997, told an employment tribunal at Norwich that she only found out that she had a possible case against her employer after she went back to work part-time.

Mrs Culot, a university graduate, said her pregnancy had been difficult and after her son, Leon, was born in January, 1998, doctors told her she was suffering from a rare kidney disease which meant she still had to have regular dialysis.

She told her editor, Peter Franzen, that she would only be able to do part-time work and she was offered three casual shifts a week. But then when a full time replacement was found, Mrs Culot lost her job.

She said: “I nearly died after the birth of my baby and I was told that because of the disease, I might not live to see 40.

“At that time, the issue of going back to work after my maternity leave was not something I thought very much about.

“I was happy to take the shifts because I was pleased with the offer and the chance to go back to work. It was only after I was sacked that I realised that I had been very badly treated and had been a victim of sexual discrimination.

“I had nothing against the editor or news editor – I invited them to my wedding and took my baby son into the office for them to see. But I had ambitions – I was good at my job, I had a good career ahead of me and then suddenly I had nothing.”

Mrs Culot, of Carnarvon Road, Norwich, added: “I was used to researching and investigating stories but it wasn’t in my kind to explore employment law. I had read the firm’s maternity agreement but I hadn’t realised the advantages and disadvantages of being a casual worker. I didn’t take advice.”

The tribunal was asked to make a preliminary ruling on whether Mrs Culot’s claim was out of time since it was made more than a year after she lost her job.

Her barrister, Paul Butterworth, agreed that she had not known that she might have a case for indirect sexual discrimination, nor could she have been expected to know, until she went to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau after she lost her job.

Chairman Christopher Ash, who described Mrs Culot as an intelligent and capable woman, said the tribunal was satisfied that she had not realised at the time she had a potential claim.

Mrs Culot’s case which alleges unfair dismissal, failure to pay redundancy and unlawful breach of contract as well as sex discrimination, will be dealt with at a full hearing on June 8th.

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