| A CHURCH OF ENGLAND cleric is a “worker” who is entitled to bring a claim against the Church, the diocese of Worcester conceded as a preliminary point in a claim brought in an employment tribunal at Birmingham by the Revd Mark Sharpe, Rector of Teme Valley South.
Mr Sharpe, who is 41, a former police officer who was ordained in 2001, claimed that during his three-year tenure he had been subjected to constant verbal abuse, his pet dog had been killed, faeces had been smeared on his car, and his tyres had been slashed. He also claimed that the vicarage where he lived with his wife and four children was infested with mice and frogs, the heating and electrical systems were dangerous, and deadly asbestos had been found.
He applied for damages for economic loss, injury to health and to his feelings, and aggravated damages for his time in the parish, which, he said, had a 40-year history of vicars, including his two immediate predecessors, who had left in controversial circumstances.
Historically, Church of England clergy are office-holders occupying a living, and are not regarded as “employees” who come under the employment laws that apply to the rest of the working population. That position has been eroded in recent years, particularly after the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 and European Directives, which have been incorporated into English law. Those Directives are applicable to “workers”, and take in office-holders in the workplace.
There has also been case law that has relaxed the rigid position that an employment tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear matters relating to the clergy. In December 2005, the House of Lords ruled, in a case concerning an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland who complained of sex discrimination, that where the appointee was entitled to a salary, to reimbursement of travelling expenses, and to accommodation and other benefits, an employment tribunal had jurisdiction to hear the complaint.
In view of all these developments, the concession made by the Worcester diocese is not, as Unite, the Union representing Mr Sharpe, says, the “biggest breakthrough in employment conditions for ministers in the Church of England since the Reformation nearly 500 years ago”.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Communications Office of the Archbishops’ Council said that in recent consultations Church of England clergy had said overwhelmingly that they wanted to remain office-holders and not become employees. The historical status of office-holder, the Council said, had “developed over the centuries to protect parish clergy from unfair interference in their ministry . . . and a bishop cannot simply direct a parish priest to do something — or to stop doing something — in the way that an employee’s boss can.”
The General Synod has therefore prepared legislation on clergy terms of service, the object being to ensure that the clergy are “given modern protections and responsibilities without losing their office-holder status”.
That Measure is now before Parliament, and if, as is anticipated, it receives Royal Assent next year, the Archbishops’ Council said that it would “indeed mark a historic development in the conditions of service of clergy in the Church of England”.
Mr Sharpe’s substantive case will go for judicial mediation in the next few months.
Simon Sarmiento adds: Mr Sharpe’s claim is being made under the “whistle-blowing” provisions of Section 43 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Mr Sharpe says that he disclosed information about the Church of England in his benefice, but because the diocese took no action, he and his family have suffered harassment and discrimination.
Mr Sharpe took over the parish in January 2005, but has been on sick leave since early in 2006. Before becoming a priest, Mr Sharpe spent 12 years in the police service. After three curacies in York diocese, he became a Royal Navy chaplain in 2004, but resigned later that year, and in 2006 won compensation from a Devon employment tribunal after claiming sexual harassment aboard two warships.
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