Sting News

Sting's former chef had one too many buns in the oven for the rocker's liking.

Or so determined a British employment tribunal as it ruled against Sting and wife Trudie Styler Tuesday, ordering the power couple to pay nearly $51,000 to their ex-cook.

The Southampton-based panel found in favor of Jane Martin, who claimed that after eight years of serving the musician and his wife at their country estate in Wiltshire, she was "cast out and discriminated against" after announcing she was pregnant in 2005.

The 41-year-old Martin claimed she was put under tremendous pressure, particularly by Styler, whose attitude toward Martin, the chef said, changed dramatically as her belly expanded.

Martin, who told the tribunal panel that she once traveled from the Stings' country estate to their London home for the sole purpose of cooking a bowl of pasta for one of their kids, said that Styler was unhappy when the chef took time off due to a stomach bug.

According to Martin, she overheard Styler dismiss her illness, saying, "She's my chef in the U.K. She needs to be available when I need her, or she should rethink her position."

Martin, who has also cooked for the likes of Madonna and Elton John, described Styler as having a "grandiose ego" and as someone who wanted to be treated "in a royal manner beyond her station as an actress."

Furthermore, Martin said that she received just eight tulips from the couple on her 40th birthday last year, whereas on previous special occasions she had received the likes of Tiffany jewelry and an Hermès watch.

She said that she was unceremoniously terminated in April 2006, informed by the Police man's management firm, Lake House Estate, that after nearly a decade of service, she was no longer needed as the couple had, as it were, too many cooks in their kitchen.

Sting and Styler immediately slammed the ruling and filed an appeal insisting the tribunal had shown "bias" toward their former employee.

"Given the fact of that pending appeal, it is our belief and that of our legal team that the remedies hearing should never have taken place," the couple said in statement. "Hence its findings are entirely academic.

"It remains Trudie's position that she, as a woman and a mother, has never in her life sexually discriminated against anyone and never would do so."

Tuesday's monetary award followed an initial decision by the tribunal in May in favor of Martin. The panel sought additional time to figure out the damages. The $51,000 is slightly less than the $57,000 Martin was making annually from the couple.