A shop manager who refused a pregnant member of staff permission to go to the toilet threw a plastic bag at her and said "get sick in that", a judge heard yesterday.
"I had to puke into the plastic bag in front of customers," Ms Michelle Webster, 20 at the time, told Judge Elizabeth Dunne in the Circuit Civil Court.
Ms Webster (22) said she had been suffering from morning sickness and because the Pound City shop toilet was used for storing stock, staff had to ask permission to use a public toilet.
She told her counsel, Mr Donagh MacDonagh SC, that after informing Pound City manager Mr Mark Fitzpatrick she was pregnant he had "made life hell" for her.
The hassle and intimidation reached such a level she had to receive medical attention for stress and her doctor had eventually put it to her she had a decision to make. It was either her job or her baby so she had decided to quit her job in Pound City, Crumlin Shopping Centre, Dublin, in May 2000.
Ms Webster, of Alderwood Green, Springfield, Tallaght, sued Kesvale Ltd, which trades at 40 Pound City shops.
After having given her evidence and following lunchtime negotiations she settled her €38,000 claim for damages for constructive dismissal for an undisclosed sum.
Mr Frank Callanan SC, who appeared with Mr James Phillips for Kesvale Ltd, told Judge Dunne the settlement had been reached without admission of liability by Kesvale Ltd.
Ms Webster said she had been assistant manager in Pound City, Crumlin, and had worked happily with Mr Fitzpatrick until she told him she was pregnant. When told by Mr Fitzpatrick it "would not work out" she had told him he would have to sack her as she would not resign.