Wandsworth defeats "Faith in God" employment tribunal claim

The London Borough of Wandsworth has successfully defended a claim for unfair dismissal, religious discrimination and breach of contract brought by an employee who was sacked for suggesting to a terminally-ill woman that she “put her faith in God”.

Duke Amachree had joined the council as a homelessness prevention officer in May 1991. The Employment Tribunal said that “until the occurrence of the matters giving rise to this claim, the claimant had an exemplary disciplinary record”.

On 26 January 2009, Amachree interviewed a service user who was seeking advice about her housing situation. During the interview, she revealed that she was suffering from an incurable disease. Amachree then discussed his religious beliefs (he was a committed Christian) and suggested she put her faith in God. The woman sent a letter of complaint the next day.

The claimant was then suspended from work on full pay by the council’s director of housing and told he was being investigated for a potentially major offence under Wandsworth’s disciplinary code.

At a disciplinary hearing in July 2009 Amachree was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct for making “offensive and inappropriate” comments to a service user and releasing personal information relating to the complainant to the media. Despite Amachree’s work record and evidence from a character witness, it was decided that there could be no confidence he would not repeat the offence in future and there had been a fundamental breach of trust.

Wandsworth’s staffing sub-committee then heard Amachree’s appeal, but dismissed it without giving reasons. He then brought a tribunal claim.

The tribunal ruled: “On the balance of probabilities, the true reason for the claimant’s dismissal was his conduct, not his religion or belief. We were satisfied that it was not on the ground of his religion that he was suspended or dismissed, rather it was on the ground that he had improperly referred to his belief during a conversation with a service user about her housing situation.

“In our judgement this, in combination with the subsequent incident of a breach of confidentiality, was the principal reason for the respondent’s (Wandworth’s) belief, which was genuinely held, that the claimant was guilty of gross misconduct. This falls under the potentially fair reason of conduct.”

The tribunal ruled that the investigation conducted by Wandsworth was a “reasonable” investigation, that the council’s approach to the matter could not be said to amount to procedural unfairness and that the local authority had acted reasonably in dismissing the claimant.

It found that the dismissal was fair and there was no discrimination on the grounds of religion. The tribunal was also satisfied that the claimant’s conduct was “sufficient to amount to a repudiatory breach of contract such as to entitle the respondent to dismiss him without notice”.

A council spokesman said it was pleased that the tribunal had found in its favour and “supported the commonsense and reasonable way we handled this case”.

The Christian Legal Centre, which backed Amachree’s claim, was shocked by the ruling and said it would support an appeal.

Founder and Director Andrea Minichiello Williams said: “We are stunned that the tribunal failed to recognise the draconian way in which Amachree was treated and we are dismayed that they found that Amachree had not been discriminated against on the grounds of his faith.

“This decision will send yet more shock waves through the Christian community when they realise that a couple of comments encouraging faith in God can lead to a person being dismissed for gross misconduct.”

Amachree said he was devastated by the outcome, adding that it was a “sad day for Christians who simply want to live out their faith in the workplace without fear.”