Beliefs should not cost people their career, says Christian social worker who lost job

by Daisy Graham-Brown, Telegraph

Felix Ngole had an offer of employment withdrawn after his prospective employer found evidence of his views on marriage and sexuality

A Christian social worker fighting a long-running legal battle will argue that “beliefs should not cost people their career” after losing a job offer because of religious comments he made online.

Felix Ngole, 48, will launch the latest stage of his freedom-of-speech battle at the Court of Appeal on Monday following a charity’s decision to withdraw an offer of employment after finding out his views on marriage and sexuality.

Mr Ngole applied to be a mental health support worker with Touchstone, based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in 2022, and was offered the role.

The offer was withdrawn a month later after the employer found news articles about a landmark Court of Appeal case Mr Ngole had won against Sheffield University in 2019.

He had been removed from a social-work course by the university and declared unfit to practise because of comments he had made during a Facebook debate, in which he had said that “the Bible and God identify homosexuality as a sin”.

The court ruled that the university’s action amounted to a restriction on Mr Ngole’s freedom of expression. He was reinstated and later qualified as a social worker.

Touchstone found the comments and withdrew the offer before asking him to attend a second interview dealing specifically with his beliefs. Following that interview, the charity refused to reinstate the job offer.

Mr Ngole, who lives with his wife in Barnsley, took the matter to an employment tribunal, which found he had been discriminated against, but also found that Touchstone was entitled to give him a second interview and then refuse to reinstate the offer.

In February this year, an employment appeal tribunal ruled that, while many people would disagree with Mr Ngole’s views, the initial ruling against him had discriminated against his beliefs. However, rather than determining that unlawful discrimination had been established, it instead directed that the issues be sent back to the initial tribunal for reconsideration.

Now, Mr Ngole is taking this decision to the Court of Appeal. It is thought to be the first time that someone has fought two separate Court of Appeal cases on workplace penalties resulting from their expression of Christian beliefs.

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