A FORMER TalkTalk director that helped lead the £30 million pilot "Lightning" project to install broadband to tens of thousands of homes in York, claimed sex discrimination and unfair dismissal against the telecommunications giant.

Rebecca Burke, 43, has claimed sex discrimination and unfair dismissal against the telecommunications giant,

and that she lost out on more than a quarter of a million pounds, court documents show.

The former programme director claimed her £110,000 salary was 40 per cent below the pay of three of her male colleagues, who had the same job titles and responsibilities in their own fields.

In court documents, Mrs Burke argued she lost a total of £252,000, including an £80,000 claim for unfair dismissal.

Mrs Burke argued there was a £172,000 difference between her and one of her male colleagues' earnings during a 23-month period.

TalkTalk strongly denies the claims. The firm argued the three men did different work compared with Mrs Burke, and added all had different salaries in previous roles, different comparative experiences, skills and capabilities.

The firm also argues that the 40 per cent figure was taken from the highest earner of the three men, who was only employed with Mrs Burke for six months.

TalkTalk representatives added that if the tribunal did find there was a claim for sex discrimination and unfair dismissal, she would only be entitled to a claim of £72,000 at the very highest.

However, after a massive data breach of customers' details that October, she also stepped in as the programme director for the firm's Cyber Security Programme.

A central London employment tribunal heard how Mrs Burke, 43, from Yateley, Hampshire, also said she was unfairly made redundant without consultation in May 2017, in a "predetermined" decision when her team was restructured.

She raised an equal pay complaint with TalkTalk three months later, after details about her colleagues' pay emerged during the redundancy appeal.

Court documents show Mrs Burke was entitled to a £29,263 bonus in her contract, and also show her three male colleagues earned bonuses up to £82,000 because they were in a higher salary band.

Between 2018 and 2019, TalkTalk reported a mean pay gap of 19.1 per cent and a mean bonus gap of 30.7 per cent.

The tribunal heard that when her team was restructured, Mrs Burke was not given the opportunity to apply for other roles at TalkTalk.

Former BBC China editor Carrie Gracie, who settled her own equal pay dispute with the BBC in 2018, attended the tribunal on Tuesday.

She told the PA news agency: "I wanted to come along and show some support.

"After I went public with my case, thousands of women wrote to me from all kinds of organisations.

"Public sector, private sector, south, north, east, west. It became clear to me that there is a pattern here and there is a lot of it.

"It very rarely comes to a tribunal because of the enormous challenges to any individual woman bringing it to a tribunal. Financial, career loss, you name it.

"Those who do get to a tribunal are brave and determined and deserve all of our support."

The tribunal continues.