Equal pay settlement

Dr Lorna Chessum, a senior lecturer at De Montfort University, Leicester, has won an out-of-court settlement of £10,000 after taking her employer to an employment tribunal for failing to pay her the same as a male colleague.

Chessum was appointed on the bottom of her salary scale and, as a result, received around £6,000 a year less than a similarly qualified male lecturer appointed to the top of the scale. The case was supported by lecturers' union NATFHE and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). NATFHE branch secretary Neil Williamson said: "This kind of institutional sexism is endemic in Higher Education".