A woman has won £30,672 after her boss failed to say she had been made redundant – because he ‘didn’t want to disturb her’ while she was breastfeeding.

Anastasia Tuchkova worked as a legal project manager for Russian mobile phone tycoon Timur Artemev.

She earned around £40,000 a year at his Surrey-based company Blackdown Hill Management.

The business had been created to manage the ‘work and domestic arrangements’ of Mr Artemev.

Ms Tuchkova had been off on maternity leave from March 2017, and emailed the following March to share her excitement at her imminent return.

A meeting with Mr Artemev was hastily arranged, which revealed she no longer had a job.

The tycoon told her ‘he hadn’t wanted to spoil her mood so soon after giving birth’ as he thought it was ‘important’ she not be disturbed while breastfeeding.

She was told there was ‘no work’ and to start job hunting.

An employment tribunal found Ms Tuchkova had been unfairly dismissed and was the victim of maternity and sex discrimination.

She has now been awarded £30, 672 in compensation.

During the tribunal, held in London, Mr Artemev admitted he knew it was unlikely she would have returned from maternity leave to a job.

He said he had been worried the shock of a redundancy would affect breastfeeding, and told the hearing ‘the child was more important than the mother’.

At the latest compensation hearing, it was heard Ms Tuchkova suffered anxiety and had to visit her GP due to stress.

The new mother struggled to find employment as her law qualifications were from Russia.

She applied unsuccessfully for work and eventually applied for job seeker’s allowance.

Ms Tuchkova won claims of unfair dismissal succeeded, unfavourable treatment because of pregnancy, and maternity and sex discrimination.

At a previous hearing, employment judge Mary Siddall said: ‘We do not accept the [Mr Artemev’s] evidence that he did not wish to disturb or upset [Ms Tuchkova] whilst she was on maternity leave and possibly breastfeeding.

‘There was nothing to stop the anyone from [Blackdown Hill Management ltd] contacting her during her absence.’

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