A 22-year-old Keighley woman, who was sacked by her boss via text message, has been awarded £6,800 in compensation.

Charlie Yates, of Calversyke Street, was sacked by her employer at Veronica Ltd, in Highfield Lane, Keighley, in May after taking holiday time to look after her brothers and sisters while her mum Mary was recovering from a thyroid operation.

An employment tribunal found that Charlie had been subject to an automatic unfair dismissal and awarded her compensation at a hearing in Leeds last Wednesday. Charlie 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."

The tribunal heard how 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", after she had taken six days off to babysit Joshua Luc, ten, Thodore, seven, and Aime-Louise, six.

Charlie said: "I had okayed it with Mr Hollins 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 then minimum wage at £5 an hour.

She said: "They are a very small company and only had about five staff."

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. It was because of my knowledge of the law that I realised I could take them to tribunal," she said. "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, but she added that there was another side to the story.

A spokesman at the tribunal office confirmed the ruling had been made.