The text message from her boss spelled out a message that shocked a woman worker.

"You are fired," it read, along with an instruction not to bother going back to the office.

Now 22-year-old Charlie Yates has been awarded £6,800 in compensation for being unfairly sacked.

An employment tribunal found she had been subject to an automatic unfair dismissal and awarded her compensation at a hearing in Leeds.

Charlie, of Calversyke Street, Keighley, said: "I'm thrilled. It wasn't about the money, it was the principle. You can't treat people like that and get away with it."

She had taken six days holiday from Veronica Ltd, in Highfield Lane, Keighley, in April to look after her young brothers and sister - Joshua Luc, ten, Thodore, seven, and Aime-Louise, six - while her mum Mary was recovering from a thyroid operation.

But the tribunal heard manager Paul Hollins sent Charlie a text message which said: "Don't bother coming in you are fired for unauthorised absence, you also took more holiday hours last week than you were entitled to."

Charlie said: "I had okayed it with Paul before I took the days off and he just said take as long as I needed, but then I got this text message.

"I couldn't believe it. I went in the next morning to find out if he was being serious.

"He didn't deny it and the conversation got quite heated. He threatened to call the police on me if I didn't leave." Charlie had worked as a dispatch manager for the small radio equipment distributor for two years, earning just over the minimum wage at £5 an hour. She said: "They are a very small company and only had about five staff. I was supposed to work 9am until 5.30pm, Monday to Friday but I did a lot of unpaid overtime to help them out."

Now a barmaid at Pilky's Sports Club and Bar, in Heber Street, Keighley, she has been encouraged by her experience to study law at university.

"I've always wanted to study law," she said. "It was because of my knowledge of the law that I realised I could take them to a tribunal.

"This experience has just made me want to do it even more so I can help the little people like myself."

A spokesman for Veronica Ltd said they would not comment on the case as they had not yet received the official papers from the tribunal.