I WON MY CASE, BUT I STILL WON’T SEE A PENNY

JO HAIDER was told she was being made redundant as sales and marketing director five days after the caesarean birth of her daughter, Safia, above, with Jo. It took a two-year court battle to get the wages and holiday pay owed by her employers, Cloud Social Media Ltd. Jo, 32, lives in Dorset with her husband Sayed and daughters, Natasha, six, and Safia, two. She says: THE last thing I expected to land on the doormat, alongside cards congratulating me on the birth of our second child, was a letter telling me I was being considered for redundancy. No one else was being considered. It completely floored me.

I’d just given birth and was also caring for my three-year-old daughter. I was vulnerable and simply didn’t have the emotional

Fight: Hannah reserves to fight.

On my last day in the with office, Mimi, two ten. of the company’s directors had Right: kissed Joeli me with on the cheek and promised they’d Theo, six, come and to see the baby. Just six weeks Jack, later three they sent me that devastating letter.

Despite it being clear that I’d go quietly, they then refused to pay me what I was owed, putting me through two years of hellish legal wrangling.

Finally, an employment court ordered they pay me the £3,433 I was owed, plus £22,786 in damages. I’ll never see a penny of it — they liquidated the company, so I chased the directors for personal liability.

But they have since been declared bankrupt, so I’ll never get any money from them. Meanwhile, my solicitor’s bill is £7,000. But I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d let them crush me without a fight.

I’ve had to take medication to help me through the depression it triggered.

The case put me in debt and my marriage came under dreadful pressure. I’m glad I fought it, no matter the cost. Winning was the validation that I desperately needed.