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 couldn'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 2012 . While away, she says her responsibilities were handed out to other people . She claimed discrimination and a court upheld her claim for compensation .