Tribunal told demotion was 'coincidental'

THE bursar involved in re-structuring departments within a top private school being sued for sex discrimination has denied it was timed to "punish" their pregnant employee.

Alan Lawson, the former bursar at Loretto School, told the employment tribunal in Edinburgh yesterday that headmaster Peter Hogan had been planning the changes since he started at the school.

Fiona Gordon, 41, has taken the school to the tribunal claiming that she was discriminated against by Mr Hogan after announcing her pregnancy to him. She claims that when she came back from maternity leave, her department had been re-structured and she had been demoted.

But giving evidence in front of Judge Stewart Watt and his panel, Mr Lawson insisted that it was coincidental.