An employment tribunal is set to hear a charity accountant’s case again after its original judgment that she was sacked or not being Catholic was appealed.
Janet Parker successfully sued Catholic charity Clifton Diocese in Bristol after a 2023 employment tribunal found she had been unfairly dismissed due to her religious beliefs.
She won claims against the diocese in April that year after a tribunal ruled the charity had discriminated against, harassed and sacked her since she was not religious.
However, the charity appealed the ruling and an employment appeal tribunal report, published this week, found that the 2023 decision “erred” in law when establishing religion or belief discrimination and harassment.
The appeal tribunal upheld the original court’s findings of unfair and wrongful dismissal against Parker, who was the diocese's financial administrator from 2016 to 2021.
However, it took issue with the 2023 judgment on the grounds that it applied the burden of proof incorrectly and failed to examine each allegation separately.
It also found that the tribunal made findings that were “perverse” or “not adequately explained”.
The judgment also stated that the future hearing should not make assumptions about the religious views of witnesses or their reactions to Parker’s lack of faith without evidence.
The case will now be heard by the same employment tribunal which has not been scheduled yet.
Parker, who described herself as non-Catholic, has worked in the charity sector accounts since 2009.
Dispute with boss
Parker fell out with the charity’s chief operating officer and boss Lyn Murray after she asked for time off to care for her newly adopted daughter in 2020.
Her earlier appraisals by Murray were “very positive” and Parker had been regarded as an “excellent employee”, the tribunal heard.
But in August 2021, the charity refused Parker’s request to work flexibly, sparking a conflict between the two parties.
The employment tribunal held that Murray was “extremely negative” about Parker’s desire to work part-time and flexibly, with some shifts from home, to care for her child.
Parker, in the 2023 tribunal, said: “I know that the Catholic Church does not have a blemish-free history when it comes to adopted children or children in care, but I hoped that this kind of prejudice had been eradicated long ago.”
The Clifton Diocese declined Civil Society’s request for comment.
