AN AWARD-WINNING businesswoman who claimed that colleagues orchestrated a campaign to oust her from the electronics company she founded has won a substantial out-of-court settlement.

Nicola Chillery-Kay, a friend of Sir John Major, had sued Prosol Electronics for £580,000, alleging that colleagues plotted to oust her while she was off sick with ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. She accepted the settlement yesterday, hours before she was due to begin testimony at Bury St Edmunds employment tribunal, Suffolk.

“I trusted the people I worked with and considered them friends,” Ms Chillery-Kay said. “They kicked me when I was down. I believe it was a combination of sexism, jealousy and greed.” In documents submitted to the tribunal she claimed that she had devoted her life to Prosol, which she set up in 1987 to supply electronic kits to small companies. During the next 16 years she remortgaged her house twice and worked “all the hours God sent” overseeing its growth to a company with an annual turnover of £5 million and more than 100 employees. Under her leadership the company won nine regional and national awards, but four senior male colleagues still voiced doubts that a woman could run a company as big as Prosol.

Ms Chillery-Kay, of Dersingham, Norfolk, was then forced to take sick leave when ME was diagnosed in early 2003, and her colleagues allegedly took advantage of her absence to conspire against her. They refused to allow her to return when she recovered earlier than expected, and suspended her on disciplinary allegations about her tax arrangements the day before she was due to resume work.

Ms Chillery-Kay was dismissed that October, with £200,000 of shares and options seized by the company. She claimed that the male executives then promoted themselves to the board with big pay rises. She alleged disability discrimination, victimisation, unfair dismissal and sex discrimination by Prosol, Graham Barnes, Simon George, Paul Smith and Michael Knight. She also sued Albemarle Private Equity, an investor in Prosol, which settled her claim without admitting liability.

Separately, a female lawyer who won £500,000 from Merrill Lynch over allegations that she was the subject of “disgusting sexual gibes” has begun a second claim against the investment bank.

Elizabeth Weston, 30, claims that the US bank reneged on the terms of their out-of-court settlement by providing her with an unsatisfactory reference. She alleges that the bank set out to sabotage her future because it was angry that she had sued for sexual discrimination.

In the reference, Nicholas Hall, her former boss, noted that Ms Weston’s overall performance was average. A spokesman for Merrill said: “We believe this is an opportunistic claim without merit.”

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