A Christian social worker has partly won his belief discrimination claim after a charity rescinded his job offer following the discovery of Facebook posts he had made expressing his views on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
Felix Ngole was offered a role as a discharge mental health support worker by health and wellbeing charity Touchstone Leeds in May 2022. The role would involve supporting people with severe mental health issues when they are discharged from Wakefield Hospital, including members of the LGBT+ community who the charity said are more likely to experience depression and anxiety than others.
When he applied for the role, the claimant gave his title as “Rev Ngole” and declared his religion or faith as Christian.
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He told the employment tribunal that he believes the Bible is the inspired and infallible word of God, and that everything in the Bible is part of the Gospel which Jesus has commanded Christians to preach to the world.
He also believes that marriage is a divinely instituted lifelong union between man and woman, and that the expression of sexual relationships only accords with Biblical teaching when expressed within a monogamous marriage of one man and
one woman.
He also holds the belief that sex is biologically immutable and does not believe it possible for a person to change their sex or gender. He argued that his beliefs fall into the protected category under the Equality Act 2010.
In May 2022, Ngole received a conditional job offer from the organisation. Although there was nothing in the employment references it received that could cause alarm, its HR administrator Ms Smith decided to seek further references that told the organisation more about Ngole’s character and experience, as those it had already obtained only confirmed the dates he had worked with previous employers.
Google search
The charity became concerned after one referee seemed reluctant to provide any information about the claimant, so its business development director, Ms Brown, decided to search the claimant’s name on Google.
She discovered several news articles about Ngole being removed from a Sheffield University course after making negative comments about LGBT+ community and same-sex marriage on Facebook. These included references to the Bible describing homosexuality as a sin.
Ngole later overturned the university’s decision following a case at the Court of Appeal in 2019, but Touchstone Leeds had not found this judgment or the news coverage about this case during its Google search.
Evidence presented to the employment tribunal showed that 23% of staff at Touchstone Leeds as of December 2022 identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, and 8% as transgender/non-binary.
After discovering the news articles, the organisation was “struggling to reconcile how the claimant’s views would align with the requirements and desired outcomes of the role”, it told the judge.
Director of people and culture Mrs Hart told the tribunal: “At the time of carrying [out] the Google search, almost a third of our workforce were Christian and we have never experienced any conflicts or problems in relation to the interaction between the Christian and LGBTQI+ communities and their views, or any other religion for that matter. However, we had never had a Christian member of staff outwardly question or shame the choices of the LGBTQI+ community in the same manner as the claimant had whilst at university.
“I was incredibly concerned that the claimant’s views on homosexuality and gay marriage could be of the ‘barriers’ to service users being discharged from Wakefield Hospital.”
Job offer withdrawn
Ngole received an email withdrawing the job offer on 10 June 2022. It said: “We have uncovered some information about you which does not align with the Touchstone Leeds ethos and values; we are an organisation proud to work in alliance with the LGBTQ+ community and we pride ourselves with being an inclusive employer. It is with regret therefore that we must withdraw the provisional offer of employment made to you.”
He responded by stating the organisation had made a hasty assumption that he would not be able to provide a safe and equitable service to LGBT+ people. He described this as “offensive, very biased, potentially discriminatory and unfair”.
He said that the organisation’s concerns might be addressed by reading the Court of Appeal’s judgment in 2019.
Hart responded by stating that Ngole would have to attend LGBT+ training as part of his role, would be expected to use the pronouns service users wished him to use, and said that the promotion of homosexual rights would be a condition of his employment.
Touchstone offered Ngole a second interview in July 2022 to give him an opportunity to reassure the organisation that his beliefs would not affect the charity’s work, with the possibility of reissuing his job offer if the interview went well. However, a job offer was not reinstated.
A judgment published last week revealed that Ngole’s religious discrimination claim against Touchstone Leeds succeeded in part, but only in relation to the decision to withdraw the conditional job offer. His claims for harassment and indirect discrimination failed.
Judge Jonathan Brain’s judgment says: “The real reason that Mr Ngole was treated as he was is because of his expression of views rooted in his religious beliefs which impacted on Touchstone’s concerns for the safeguarding of their service users. The expression of his beliefs rooted in his religion was a material reason for the decision taken by Touchstone to withdraw the conditional job offer on 10 June 2022. The direct discrimination claim must therefore succeed.
“The reason why the job offer was not reinstated is the claimant’s performance in interview on 11 July 2022 and the concerns of Mrs Hart and Mr Pickard for the welfare of service users. ”
However, the judge ruled that Touchstone was justified in not reinstating Ngole’s job offer following the second interview.
‘No choice but to appeal’
Responding to the ruling, Ngole said: “I am pleased that the tribunal found that I was discriminated against, but there are so many disturbing comments and conclusions in it as well which leaves me with no choice but to appeal.
“The ruling ultimately sets a dangerous precedent as it gives employers the freedom to block Christians, and anyone who doesn’t promote LGBTQI+ ideology, from employment.
“If I was discriminated against when they withdrew the job offer then I don’t see how I was not also discriminated against when they refused to reinstate me after the ‘second interview.’
“No one has ever told me that I have not treated them well in my professional experience. I have never been accused of forcing my beliefs on anyone. I have supported vulnerable individuals from all backgrounds, including LGBT.
“I have no choice but to pursue justice again because if this is happening to me it will be happening to Christians and individuals from all beliefs and backgrounds across the country.”
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