Christian social worker returns to Court of Appeal over employment discrimination

A Christian social worker who was denied a job after his prospective employer found Facebook posts he'd written in a chat about his views on marriage and sexuality has returned to the Court of Appeal.

Felix Ngole is challenging a decision to send part of his discrimination claim against mental health charity Touchstone Leeds back to an employment tribunal. 

Touchstone offered Ngole a role supporting people being discharged from the hospital in 2022, but after an internet search surfaced posts about his Christian beliefs, the conditional job offer was withdrawn. Following a second interview addressing his beliefs and how he would carry out his duties, Touchstone did not reinstate the offer.

The Employment Tribunal found that Touchstone had directly discriminated against Ngole when it initially withdrew the offer, but accepted its decision not to reinstate it after a second interview.

In February, the Employment Appeal Tribunal found flaws in the tribunal’s analysis of Touchstone’s reasons for a second interview and its decision not to reinstate the job offer. It said these parts of the case should be reconsidered by the Employment Tribunal.

Ngole is challenging the decision to send his case back to the same tribunal and same panel for reconsideration. He instead wants the Court of Appeal to rule that the established facts already demonstrate direct discrimination and that another Employment Tribunal hearing is unnecessary, or that reconsideration should be carried out by a different tribunal. 

His appeal also challenges whether employers can subject applicants to additional questioning or exclude them from employment based on assumptions about how their protected beliefs might affect others.

The hearing will run over two days at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, starting on Monday.

Speaking ahead of the hearing, Ngole said, "I am grateful that the Employment Appeal Tribunal recognized serious flaws in the original judgment. But after years of litigation, it cannot be right to send me back to the same tribunal to fight the central issues all over again.

“I am determined to pursue this appeal and seek a clear and lasting precedent for Christian freedom. I do not want another employer to see this case as permission to treat Christians as a risk to the public, or to demand that they abandon, conceal or apologize for lawful beliefs before they can work.

“No one should be forced out of a career because their biblical beliefs are known. I hope the Court of Appeal will bring this long process to an end and affirm that Christians must be assessed according to their conduct and professional ability, not according to stereotypes about their faith.”

He is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which said his case was "clear viewpoint discrimination" and that it had "wider implications for Christian freedom."

Andrea Williams, CEO of the CLC, said that prolonging the litigation "adds to the injustice" Ngole has already experienced.

"It is untenable for Christians to be told that their beliefs are protected in theory while employers remain free to interrogate, exclude or penalize them because someone might discover those beliefs and take offense," she said. 

“If that principle is allowed to take hold, no Christian who expresses biblical beliefs in public can have confidence that an internet search will not be used against them years later. It would impose an unofficial religious test for entry into public-facing professions." 

She added, "We hope the Court of Appeal will make clear that employers must not stereotype Christians, speculative offense cannot displace fundamental freedoms, and no one should be barred from work because they believe that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman."

The case follows Ngole’s successful 2019 Court of Appeal challenge against the University of Sheffield, which had removed him from a social work course over comments he made in a Facebook discussion. He later completed his training and qualified as a social worker.

This article was originally published at Christian Today