A council worker made redundant after an unsuccessful job interview the day after being diagnosed with cancer is seeking compensation from Croydon Council.

Former policy strategy manager Linda Oram is claiming unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, after she lost her job following a restructure of the chief executive's office.

Croydon Council strenously denied her claims.

Ms Oram, of Crofton Park Road, Brockley, told the employment tribunal she had a role within a team helping to provide advice for the chief executive, John Rouse, and leader of the council, Councillor John Fisher, including preparing speeches.

She said she was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2005 and was told the cancer had returned the day before her interview to secure one of two new posts last September as part of the restructure.

She claims the interview should have been rescheduled because of the bad news.

She also claims the evaluation process was unfair and that candidates were not treated equally.

In her tribunal statement, she said: "I was not expecting to get bad news as I had only had a procedure in May and normally it had taken nine months or so to return.

"I was distraught, not only because I had to have another procedure, but also because if this trend were to continue I could be faced by more and more frequent operations for the rest of my life."

Ms Oram claims when she returned to work after the appointment, she told her line manager Martin Ellender, of the diagnosis to which he said "Oh so that means you have to have another procedure."

Ms Oram said prior to the appointment she had told Mr Ellender if she received bad news at the hospital check-up, it could have a negative effect on her performance, a conversation Mr Ellender argues did not take place.

While she accepts she did not ask for her interview to be moved, she said she was upset her line manager had not suggested it.

Ms Oram, joined the council in September 2001 working as a policy adviser for performance management, before becoming a policy strategy manager following a restructure in 2008.

The tribunal hearing, which started on Monday, has been listed for four days and a decision by tribunal judge Michael Zuke, is expected on Thursday.