Amos
A former journalist on Chat threatened to start enforcement proceedings against IPC this week because the company has failed to make a compensation payment on time.
IPC was ordered to pay £14,500 to Leigh Amos, a former feature writer on Chat, after an Employment Tribunal found that she had been unfairly dismissed, was a victim of sex discrimination and the company had breached her contract.
Amos launched her claim after she was refused a request to work part-time following maternity leave by then editor of Chat Keith Kendrick.
Kendrick said her proposal would have caused too much disruption to the working practices and procedures of the magazine’s features department and claimed it would have had a detrimental effect on the magazine.
IPC was given 21 days to pay and 42 days to appeal but Amos was still awaiting payment this week. "It was all very fair but IPC hasn’t had the grace to pay me my compensation and I now have to get my insurance company to get them to pay which means more costs," she told Press Gazette.
Amos had worked for IPC for five years before she left for maternity leave in May 1999. She was due to return to work in January 2000 but approached Kendrick two months before to ask if she could go part time.
The case went to the Employment Tribunal last August but it was adjourned until February. The panel did not reach a final decision until 4 April. Amos said: "I’d had a new baby, just moved house and the situation was quite stressful. IPC relied on me not having the nerve to take them to a tribunal. The more women who can show they can do it, the more inspiration it will give others."
A spokeswoman for IPC said Amos would be paid this week.
By Ruth Addicott
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
