Christian who lost out on job over anti-gay views vows to appeal Employment Tribunal decision despite winning claim

A charity's decision to withdraw a job offer after finding a prospective employee held strong Christian beliefs about homosexuality constituted direct discrimination, the Employment Tribunal has found.

In a reserved judgement handed down late last month (24 June), the tribunal concluded that the complainant, a social worker named Felix Ngole, suffered direct discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 because of his religion or beliefs.

Despite the direct discrimination finding, Ngole has vowed to appeal the decision, claiming the ruling sets a dangerous precedent "as it gives employers the freedom to block Christians, and anyone who doesn't promote LGBTQI+ ideology, from employment".

Ngole, who is a qualified social worker, was offered a job by Leeds-based mental health charity Touchstone in May 2022.

However, the employer later searched the internet for the complainant's name and discovered news coverage of previous litigation he was involved in.

Giving evidence at the tribunal, a Touchstone employee said she found an article from the Guardian with the headline: "Christian thrown out of university over anti-gay remarks loses appeal".

The story said that Ngole had been kicked off a social work course at Sheffield University after branding homosexuality a sin on Facebook.

He later launched a judicial review over the university's decision, but lost the High Court challenge. Ngole then appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal where he was successful.

Upon finding the news stories, the charity withdrew its job offer, expressing concern that the man's views were not in line with the charity's vision, values and ethos.

It also expressed worry over how his views could potentially negatively impact vulnerable service users and other employers, a large proportion of which are from the LGBTQI+ community.

Despite withdrawing the conditional offer, the charity organised a follow-up interview with Ngole to allow him the opportunity to demonstrate his suitability for the role.

During the interview, charity employees asked him about how he would respond to a series of scenarios to test how Ngole's personal views would impact his work.

Ultimately, the charity decided not to offer the man the position, leading him to complain to the Employment Tribunal.

The tribunal considered whether direct religion or belief discrimination (Equality Act 2010 section 13), indirect discrimination (Equality Act 2010 section 19), or harassment related to religion or belief (Equality Act 2010 section 26) had taken place.

On the direct discrimination ground, the tribunal concluded that: "The real reason that Mr Ngole was treated as he was is because of his expression of views rooted in his religious beliefs which impacted on Touchstone's concerns for the safeguarding of their service users.

"The expression of his beliefs rooted in his religion was a material reason for the decision taken by Touchstone to withdraw the conditional job offer on 10 June 2022. The direct discrimination claim must therefore succeed."
The finding of direct discrimination only applied to the decision to withdraw the conditional offer.

Ngole also claimed that the decision not to give him the job after the second interview constituted direct discrimination, but this claim failed.

Turning to the claim of indirect discrimination, the tribunal found that balancing the interests of the charity in preserving the mental health of their service users against the wishes of Ngole to work for the charity and his ability to work elsewhere gave "only one answer".

"The balance favours the respondent, and their actions were therefore proportionate and are justified," it said.

The tribunal continued: "It follows therefore that all the claimant's complaints fail by application to the facts of the law as it relates to his Convention rights and by application of the 2010 Act except upon the direct discrimination claim around the respondent's decision to withdraw the conditional job offer on 10 June 2022.

"That was a breach of the claimant's Convention rights under Article 10 and constitutes direct religion and belief discrimination under the 2010 Act.

"The other component parts of the allegation of direct discrimination […] and the remainder of the direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment claims all fail and stand dismissed."

Responding to the ruling, Ngole said: "I am pleased that the tribunal found that I was discriminated against, but there are so many disturbing comments and conclusions in it as well which leaves me with no choice but to appeal.

"The ruling ultimately sets a dangerous precedent as it gives employers the freedom to block Christians, and anyone who doesn't promote LGBTQI+ ideology, from employment.

"If I was discriminated against when they withdrew the job offer then I don't see how I was not also discriminated against when they refused to reinstate me after the 'second interview.'"

Ngole added: "I have no choice no choice but to pursue justice again because if this is happening to me it will be happening to Christians and individuals from all beliefs and backgrounds across the country."

A spokesperson for Touchstone said: "We believe we did the right thing in defending this action and acting in line with our values, with the principle aim being to protect our service users, staff, and all involved with our charity.

“We are pleased that the balance of the outcome favours Touchstone and deems Touchstone’s actions proportionate and justified. However, we accept that there are learnings to take from the outcome of a procedural nature that will inform how we approach processes in the future.”

It added: “Touchstone is wholly committed to the promotion and celebration of equal rights, diversity and inclusion and continues to develop and grow as an organisation, reflecting the ever-changing nature of our diverse communities and wider society. For 42 years, we have been known as an inclusive charitable organisation and employer that helps those in crisis. That vital work does and will continue.”

Adam Carey