Catherine McClennan , from Ainsdale , Southport , took the Trades Union Congress to court , claiming that she was stripped of her responsibilities following the birth of her third child . A TUC manager has won a payout from union bosses after it 'carved up her role and forced her out of her job ' while she was away on maternity leave . Catherine McClennan , from Ainsdale , Southport , claims that she was stripped of her responsibilities at the Trades Union Congress ( TUC ) following the birth of her third child . The mother-of-three began working for the organisation , which fights for workers ' rights , in 2006 as a senior manager in the learning and skills section at its Liverpool office . After finding out she was pregnant with her son , Allister , now three , she went on maternity leave in early 2012 . But while she was away she claims many of her responsibilities had been given away to colleagues . By the time she returned to work in January 2013 , she said it was as if her whole career had been taken away from her . Ms McClennan says her job was later scrapped and she was pitted against two colleagues for another position . She took redundancy in February last year and now has a new job helping to improve NHS maternity services . She argued this was discrimination and an employment tribunal in Liverpool ruled in her favour this month . Ms McClennan , 43 , said : 'The TUC needs to start practising what it preaches . 'The TUC should be an exemplar employer but that could n't be further from the truth in my case . ' The TUC , which represents 54 British trade unions and campaigns for better workplace rights , denied it had discriminated against Ms McClennan . But with backing from trade union Unite , Ms McClennan took the TUC to court for maternity discrimination – leading to a five-day hearing at Liverpool Civil and Family Court this month . The mother-of-three began working for the organisation , which fights for workers ' rights , in 2006 as a senior manager in the learning and skills section at its Liverpool office . By the time she returned to work in January 2013 from maternity leave , she said it was as if her whole career had been taken away from her . Ms McClennan took the TUC to court for maternity discrimination – leading to a five-day hearing at Liverpool Civil and Family Court this month . The court upheld her case and ordered the organisation to pay an undisclosed amount of compensation . She said : 'When I returned I was marginalised and sidelined . I had to fight for my responsibilities back . 'Before my maternity leave I was on an upward trajectory but when I came back it was as if my whole career had been taken off me . I continued to complain but absolutely nothing was done about it . ' Ms McClennan says her job was later scrapped and she was pitted against two colleagues for another position . She took redundancy in February last year and now has a new job helping to improve NHS maternity services . Ms McClennan says her job at the Liverpool offices ( pictured ) was later scrapped and she was pitted against two colleagues for another position . She took redundancy in February last year and now has a new job helping to improve NHS maternity services . She said : ' I felt I was forced out . Employers should support women who come back from maternity leave but instead I was sidelined and they tried to cover this up . 'Coming back after having a child is hard enough without being subjected to discrimination . What happened is a great shame and was incredibly stressful . ' I have daughters and nieces so I felt this was a case I had to fight for the sake of future generations . ' Ms McClennan 's solicitor Steve Pinder , head of employment law at Liverpool-based EAD Solicitors , said : 'This case shows women who take maternity leave are still subject to difficult working conditions and still struggle to get their jobs back . 'When Catherine went back to work there was a complete absence of any plan to get her back into the workplace and she spent over a year trying to get her job back . ' A TUC spokesman said : 'We vigorously contested this case but the tribunal has made an award for injury to feelings even though there was no malicious or conscious attempt to discriminate . ' The TUC recently published a report called The Pregnancy Test : Ending discrimination at work for new mothers , which advised women how to cope with returning to work from maternity leave . It warned that women may face changes on their return , including having been effectively demoted while they were away , and called for an end to discrimination of working mothers . It said : 'Employers must learn lessons from pregnancy and maternity discrimination cases brought against them . 'At the moment , about half of employers fail to implement any changes following a finding of discrimination . 'Therefore , tribunals must have the power to make recommendations that an employer change their practice to protect other women from similar treatment . 'These recommendations must be enforceable against the employer . '
Catherine McClennan was a senior manager at the union in Liverpool . She went on maternity leave while pregnant with her third child in January 2013 . While away , she says her responsibilities were handed out to other people . She claimed discrimination and a court upheld her claim for compensation .