THE former marketing director of inward investment organisation york-

england.com has won the right to take his bosses to an employment tribunal.

Dave Taylor, who still works for City of York Council, but was previously on secondment to york-england.com, is claiming he suffered detriment due to exercising his rights under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

A preliminary hearing took place in Leeds this week to decide whether Mr Taylor's case merited a full tribunal.

The hearing, chaired by employment law specialist Christine Lee, heard that Mr Taylor made a number of disclosures about york-england.com chief executive Imelda Havers regarding her ability to carry out her job, the amount of time she spent out of the office, her alleged rudeness to external partners and her expenses claims.

Mrs Havers was not present at the hearing, but both City of York Council and york-england.com were represented.

Stefan Brochwicz-Lewinski, for the council, said all of Mr Taylor's allegations and disclosures had previously been investigated and that the termination of his secondment was unrelated to those disclosures.

He described some of Mr Taylor's allegations as "tittle tattle" and said there had simply been a breakdown in the relationship between him and his superior.

He said: "Mr Taylor has been treated entirely appropriately and entirely fairly. His grievances have been taken very seriously and there have been investigations. He cannot identify a detriment."

Following legal argument from the representatives of Mr Taylor and york-

england.com, Mrs Lee concluded that the case was not one that had no prospect of success, or so little prospect of success that a deposit should be paid.

Therefore she said a full tribunal should take place so that evidence could be heard.

The full tribunal is expected to take place some time in November.

Updated: 10:36 Friday, June 24, 2005