MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
10 March 2010
A SECRETARY who took Hearts to an employment tribunal claiming sex discrimination is set to continue working for the club, despite losing the case.
Louise Mackenzie, 34, alleged she lost her "prestigious" matchday role because she was off ill following maternity leave, and claimed that the club would have acted differently if she had been a man.
The Tynecastle club refuted the claim and yesterday learned that the case had been thrown out.
A club spokesman said they were "naturally delighted" with the outcome but would not comment further.
Mrs Mackenzie also declined to comment as she continues to work for the club at its Riccarton training facility.
The tribunal had heard how Mrs Mackenzie was upset that matchday working - and the chance to earn more pay - had been handed to another employee when she came back part-time after having a baby.
It happened after the then manager Casba Laszlo insisted on having full-time cover for the duties.
The HR department responded to Laszlo's request by bringing in Louise Clark as a second football secretary. Ms Clark also then got a share of matchday work, sparking the dispute.
Mrs MacKenzie said that having been in the job since 2001, she was entitled to work matchdays, because "I always have".
She told the hearing: "My employer's behaviour was a premeditated attempt to victimise me.
"Matchdays are a prestigious job and I have always worked them.
"Had a man been doing my duties, he wouldn't have been treated similarly."
The club said that matchday work was never in Mrs Mackenzie's contract and insisted that other staff had been drafted in for "operational reasons".
Stewart Fraser, Hearts' finance director and company secretary, told the hearing: "She [Mrs Mackenzie] believed that she had a contractual right to work on matchdays. I didn't agree with her."
The Employment Tribunal Service - which is still to publish its findings in full - told the parties yesterday that it had decided to dismiss Mrs Mackenzie's claims.
In a letter, it said: "The unanimous judgement of the Employment Tribunal is that the claim fails and is dismissed."
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