Social worker appeals after being ‘discriminated’ against
from Christian Concern:
An Employment Tribunal has found that an NHS provider ‘directly discriminated’ against Christian social worker, Felix Ngole, by withdrawing his ‘dream job’ after discovering he had orthodox Christian beliefs on human sexuality.
However, the ruling handed down by Employment Judge Jonathan Brain also includes mixed and chilling conclusions for Christian freedoms and free speech, leaving Mr Ngole no alternative but to appeal and continue his fight for justice.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mr Felix Ngole, 46, brought a discrimination case against Stonewall backed Touchstone Leeds, who recruit on behalf of the NHS, after he was told that he had to ‘embrace and promote LGBTQ+ rights’ or be unemployable.
After a first interview in May 2022, Touchstone concluded that Mr Ngole was the best candidate (beating 15 candidates) after he successfully applied for a job as Mental Health Support worker at Wakefield Hospital.
However, once it was discovered by Touchstone, following a google search, that Mr Ngole had in 2019 won a landmark legal case at the Court of Appeal over his right to freedom of speech, everything changed.
In 2015, Mr Ngole was thrown off his social work training course at Sheffield University following a debate on Facebook which quoted passages from the Bible about same-sex marriage.
But in a major victory for Christian freedoms, the Court of Appeal ruled in 2019 that Mr Ngole would ‘never discriminate against anyone’ because of his Christian beliefs and he was allowed to return to his training and subsequently qualified as a social worker.
Because of this legal victory, not despite it, Touchstone withdrew the job offer saying that Mr Ngole’s beliefs did not ‘align’ with their ethos as an ‘inclusive employer’ and that he posed a risk to the organisation’s reputation and to service users.
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