Freemasons in legal battle over unfair dismissal and unpaid wages

By Christine Lavelle

A BAR worker has lodged a legal battle against a Freemasons social club for her alleged unfair dismissal.

Gillian Borthwick says Beach Lane Social Club owes her for unpaid wages and holiday accruement, after she was struck off in January this year.

But the club, based in Portobello in Edinburgh, is arguing that Ms Borthwick was not a contracted employee and was only hired as a casual worker.

She said when she began doing odd shifts in 2005, she understood the work was casual but over the past five years she has been working regularly and thought she was now considered a full employee.

Da Vinci Code author “twisting history” claims Scots masonic expert

By Alexander Lawrie

A SCOTTISH masonic expert has blasted Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown for “twisting history” in his new book.

The plot of Brown’s new book has been one of the most guarded secrets in publishing history, but is widely expected to use Scotland as his source material.

The Lost Symbol is released on Tuesday and the cover of the US edition features various Scottish masonic symbols.

But author Ashley Cowie, whose own book The Rosslyn Templar sheds new light on the chapel’s many secrets, has slammed Brown for writing “fiction not fact” concerning the world-famous church.

Brown’s new book features the symbol of the 33rd degree of the Scottish rite of Freemasonry, the highest rank within the craft in this country, and is widely expected to condemn the first US President George Washington as a traitor.