AN NHS trust had not subjected a Christian employee to unlawful
discrimination or harassment on grounds of religious belief when it
disciplined her for talking about her faith, and praying with a
Muslim colleague, an employment tribunal ruled.
The East London NHS Foundation Trust is a public-sector employer
that provides mental-health and community-care services to the City
of London and the London boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets, and
Redbridge.
In 2007, Victoria Wasteney began working for the trust as head
of forensic occupational therapy. Her main place of work was the
John Howard Centre, a mental-health facility with secure
accommodation, where patients are admitted under the Mental Health
Act 1983.
Miss Wasteney describes herself as a born-again Christian who
attends the Christian Revival Church (CRC), which she described as
an Evangelical church. She complained to the employment tribunal
that she had been subjected to unlawful discrimination and
harassment in respect of disciplinary proceedings brought against
her by the NHS trust. As a result of the proceedings, she was made
subject to a final warning, which was subsequently reduced on
appeal to a first written warning.
The disciplinary hearing had taken place after a complaint by an
occupational therapist, Enya Nawaz, a Muslim of Pakistani origin.
Miss Wasteney was not Miss Nawaz's manager, but, as head of
occupational therapy, she had indirect management responsibility
for her.
Miss Nawaz said that she had been bullied and harassed by
Miss Wasteney who, Miss Nawaz said, had been trying to impose
Christian religious views on her by inviting her to attend events
and services at the CRC, and giving her CRC literature and
DVDs.
Miss Nawaz said that Miss Wasteney had routinely asked Miss
Nawaz to pray with her, and that there was one occasion when Miss
Wasteney laid hands on her. She alleged that Miss Wasteney's
conduct was causing her stress, and had affected her health.
Miss Wasteney was suspended pending an investigation. The
investigation concluded that Miss Wasteney's actions had blurred
the boundaries between manager and subordinate. Miss Wasteney
acknowledged that praying with or over Miss Nawaz might be
considered "outside her remit", but said that she was on her lunch
break at the time, and would ordinarily be praying.
She claimed before the employment tribunal that her rights under
the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms had been violated when she was punished for
inviting Miss Nawaz to events which had happened outside working
hours, and to which Miss Nawaz had willingly consented, or,
alternatively, which she had encouraged by failing to object.
Paul Diamond, who appeared for Miss Wasteney in the employment
tribunal, argued that the case raised important points arising from
Article 9 of the Convention, which guarantees the right to freedom
of thought, conscience, and religion. He argued that Article 9 gave
individuals the right not only to display their religious beliefs
by what, for example, they wore, but also to talk about their
beliefs to others, even if that might constitute proselytising
(although he did not accept that Miss Wasteney had been
proselytising).
He argued that Convention rights applied to the workplace, and
that, as a public body, the NHS trust had a particular duty to
implement them. He said that there was no evidence of harassment of
Miss Nawaz by Miss Wasteney to justify the disciplinary hearing and
the sanction imposed on her.
The employment tribunal rejected Miss Wasteney's claim. Miss
Nawaz's complaint was a serious one, the tribunal said, and the NHS
trust would have been rightly criticised if it had not investigated
it.
Miss Wasteney suggested that she and other Christians were at
"constant threat of disciplinary action" because of the policy of
the NHS trust. The employment tribunal rejected that proposition,
and said that "any senior manager who fails to maintain an
appropriate boundary between their personal beliefs and their role
in the workplace, such that junior employees feel under pressure to
behave or think in certain ways, is likely to be the subject of
disciplinary proceedings."
The employment tribunal said that the only instance of different
treatment because of religion or belief about which it heard some
evidence concerned a perception among some Christian employees that
the NHS trust made greater efforts to respect Muslims' observance
of Friday prayers than the attendance of Christians at Sunday
services. Nevertheless, the tribunal said that it was unnecessary
to make any finding on that allegation in order to determine the
issues in Miss Wasteney's case.
The employment tribunal's ruling has been criticised by
Christian groups. The national director of Christian Voice, Stephen
Green, said that "an atmosphere of fear is growing where a
Christian cannot have a low-key and inoffensive dialogue with a
Muslim colleague without fear of being suspended or sacked for
misconduct."
Britain was, he said, becoming like a country where "prayer is a
crime . . . it is illegal to share your faith . . . carrying a
Bible will have you arrested . . . [and] where practising the
Christian faith is illegal".
Miss Wasteney is expected to appeal to the Employment Appeal
Tribunal.