A NEW dad has won a landmark sex discrimination claim after bosses threatened to cut his pay if he took paternity leave.

Call centre worker Madasar Ali was told by telecoms giant Capita he could only have two weeks’ full pay, even though women got 14.

2 Madasar Ali has won a landmark compensation claim after his employer tried to stop him taking paternity leave Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

It is thought to be the first time a man has won such a case in England since laws allowing parents to share pay and leave.

Mr Ali, 35, wanted time off to care for baby ­Yasmin after his wife Claire, also 35, suffered post-natal depression.

Capita argued at a Leeds employment tribunal that he was not eligible for maternity leave because men don’t give birth.

2 Telecoms giant Capita threatened to cut Mr Ali's pay if he took time off to care for newborn daughter Credit: Alamy

But the tribunal ruled it flouted the 2010 Equality Act, plus regulations on shared parental leave from 2015.

And employment judge Rita Rogerson said Mr Ali had been “less favourably treated as a man”.

She added: “Either parent can perform the role of caring for their baby.”

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Mr Ali, who still works for the firm in Leeds, said: “I’m over the moon.”

Compensation is to be decided later.

The company plans to appeal.