Ex-Hearts boss gives evidence at work tribunal

FORMER Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo has told an industrial tribunal how he found himself short of a secretary at Tynecastle.

Secretary Louise Mackenzie is suing Hearts for alleged sex discrimination, claiming she lost out on work after returning from maternity leave. When she returned to part-time hours, she found another secretary had been hired to cover match days, which she had expected to work.

Laszlo, 45, said when he first arrived at the club he decided he needed full-time secretarial cover seven days a week.

"We didn't have a secretary and we needed someone full-time to be always there," he said.

The HR department responded to Laszlo's request by bringing in Louise Clark as a second football secretary.

Mrs Mackenzie had been working part-time three days a week since returning from maternity leave a year before.

Stewart Fraser, Hearts finance director and company secretary, said: "She believed that she had a contractual right to work on match days. I didn't agree with her."

Mrs Mackenzie works mainly from Hearts' offices at their Riccarton training HQ, and her role involves ensuring that all members of the football department – including the manager and players – know where they are supposed to be at any given time.

The tribunal continues.