A WOMAN has told a tribunal how she was subjected to a series of remarks about her weight and culture and was accused of sleeping around by fellow workers at Blackburn with Darwen Council.

The Muslim council employee, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, claimed she suffered sexual and racial discrimination for 10 years while she worked for the local authority and was "sent to Coventry" by staff after complaining.

An employment tribunal in Leeds made an order preventing the woman's identification after a request from Blackburn with Darwen Council -- even though the woman herself opposed the move.

The woman, who now works in a similar job at another council, claimed that despite complaints to senior management, the victimisation continued. With union help a grievance procedure was taken out in November 1999. However, she said, although three members of staff were suspended during an investigation, they were reinstated after it was completed.

She said an additional allegation of serious sexual misconduct against one council officer had come to light when she was discussing the case with a friend. She told the tribunal: "There were regular comments to me like 'bitch' and 'whore.'

"At that time all I wanted was for it to stop. Looking back, I would really have liked them sacked for what they did to me so I could come to work and be OK, because I hated coming to work every day I was there.

"My culture and dress sense were ridiculed. "You may wonder why I did not mention it sooner but I was afraid of being bullied and labelled a troublemaker and that management would say I was a problem." She described how, as her career progressed, she was subject to "persistent sexual and racial harassment" and remarks about her weight. She said: "I was made to feel like I was thick. I was ridiculed and told I had an attitude problem."

The woman frequently broke down in tears while giving evidence. She said matters had come to a head when she told other staff members how she felt at a team meeting in 1997.

She said: "I thought I could cope with it beforehand. I thought when I qualified I would get more respect."

She said the fact that another employee witnessed what she was going through made her try to have the matter dealt with.

She said the harassment was often on a daily basis and, following the November staff meeting, she said she was "sent to Coventry" by many members of the staff and subsequently developed depression and post traumatic stress disorder.

She said: "What happened thereafter was that management introduced a protocol informing their officers to say 'good morning' to me. That failed."

She said there was a "propaganda campaign" against her by those she had accused and their friends. "If I spoke I got a small response and that was it. That was the environment I was expected to work in day to day," she said. "What was happening at work was straining relationships at home. I would return home unhappy, distant-minded. I suffered mood swings. I was taking it home and it obviously had a real effect on my private life."

She said accusations about her private life were "fabrications" and the council had tried to discredit her "character, personality, behaviour and dress".

She said: "I feel that they are doing it because in 1997 I blew the whistle on them."

The woman was to be cross-examined today by Mrs Elizabeth Andrews, representing Blackburn with Darwen Council.