Personnel chief wins Pounds 40,000 sex case

A former head of personnel has won a Pounds 40,000 settlement from a church-funded higher education college amid claims of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.

Evelyn Henson negotiated the settlement with Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education prior to an industrial tribunal due to start on September 30. Ms Henson was claiming unfair dismissal, victimisation, sex discrimination and equal pay. The college settled without admitting liability.

The settlement followed two previous cases, one earlier this year and one last year, involving senior female staff at the college: one claiming unfair dismissal and the other sex discrimination. Ms Henson and the two other women have since left the college.

Lecturers' union Natfhe is now calling for a full inquiry into the three cases amid fears that the college's grievance and appeals system is inadequate.The college was a merger of Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology and the College of St Paul and St Mary.