TWO women were leaked a memo saying they were going to be made redundant, an industrial tribunal heard.

When Alison Musk and Jocelyn Loader met with bosses at Worthing Council to discuss the leaked memo, they were told the post they both held as part-time media consultant was likely to be terminated unless they could think of an alternative solution.

The tribunal in Brighton heard that it was explained at the meeting last November that the council needed to cut costs and there was insufficient work to keep either of the women on.

They are claiming unfair dismissal and sex discrimination because they say their employers should have offered them the chance to take a different job at the council instead of just making them redundant.

Mrs Loader, of Kings Walk, Shoreham, was taken on as a part-time media consultant for the council in 1995, and Mrs Musk, from Felpham, near Bognor, was taken on to share the role in 1996.

Both women worked two days a week on tasks including dealing with public relations, producing a newsletter, which had since been scrapped, and compiling an annual report of complaints.

Leslie Crane, head of personnel services at the council, said he had been annoyed that a page of the memo had been leaked but explained to the women it was not definite they would be made redundant.

He added: "There was a document circulated about how to save money, and one idea was the abolition of their posts. At this stage it was only a consultative document and a meeting was arranged with the women in November to discuss the possibility of redundancy and to get an idea of their reaction.

"But they knew about it before the meeting and were very agitated. The atmosphere was very tense. Afterwards, Mrs Loader had a lot of sick leave. Accordingly I had difficulty speaking to them together.

"Without their co-operation, I couldn't see any way of helping them as the vacancies which came up at the time were of a much lower status and pay."

The final decision to axe the media consultant posts came on December 10, 1998, and both women left straight away.

Later they saw two council jobs advertised which they felt they should have been told about and both were suitable for - Best Value co-ordinator and mayoral charity fundraiser.

However their employers, Mr Crane and Keith Eales, assistant chief executive, deny either of the women had the necessary skills for the jobs.

The hearing continues.

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