Government Senator Walton Brown is being sued for more than $10,500 by a former employee who claims he owes her the cash in unpaid wages, health bills and other expenses.

Christen Pears, 32, former managing editor of Bermuda Network News (BNN), claims the Junior Minister regularly failed to pay her on time and did not register her with the Department of Social Insurance or arrange health cover.

Her civil claim for $10,553 is due to be heard at Magistrates' Court this morning.

In a summary prepared for the court she claims the amount includes:

• thousands of dollars in unpaid wages;

• relocation expenses of $2,500 when she moved to Bermuda from the UK to take up the post in September 2006;

• an immigration fine of $125 which she had to pay because Sen. Brown failed to arrange a landing permit for her while her work permit application was being processed;

• social insurance deductions of more than $300 taken from her salary by Sen. Brown, despite the fact she was not registered with the appropriate department;

• medical expenses — which Sen. Brown said he would pay until he arranged HIP cover for her — of almost $600.

Ms Pears, who has now left the Island for Australia with husband Chris Blake, former skipper of the Spirit of Bermuda, told The Royal Gazette: "I just think that he has behaved badly, especially for someone who is in public office. It's not the kind of behaviour you would expect.

"It's not setting a good example for other people. That's the reason we left.

"Chris was quite happy to stay. He thought they were doing good work on the Spirit of Bermuda but I just couldn't handle it anymore.

"I feel that I worked really hard and I think we had a good product. I feel very let down by him."

Ms Pears' suggests in her court claim that the Progressive Labour Party politician's MediaCom company, which owns the BNN news and information website, is in financial trouble.

She says Sen. Brown closed down the company's Hamilton office in January this year to save money and that he laid her off for six weeks at the start of this year so as not to "accumulate any more debt".

Ms Pears had previously been laid off for two weeks in April 2007.

"I understand that Mr. Brown has had difficulty generating funds for Bermuda Network News and I have been very accommodating during the last 18 months when I have not received my wages on time or in full," says Ms Pears in her claim.

"I continued to update the website on a daily basis for two months despite not receiving any pay to help him in his efforts to secure additional advertising revenue."

The British journalist, who married Mr. Blake on the Island last September, said she enjoyed working for Sen. Brown and liked him on a personal level.

But she said the experience had soured her time here, especially as he has recently been avoiding her calls and not answering emails.

"The last time I e-mailed Walton was on May 1. I asked when I could expect to receive another payment and as yet, I have still not had a reply."

Sen. Brown said last night: "I'm not going to comment on the affairs of a private company.

"There is a matter before the courts tomorrow and the matter will be decided there. We have a former employee who is not very happy and I'll leave it at that."