Tribunal Success For Christian Nursery Worker Dismissed For Sexuality Discrimination

A Tribunal has ruled in favour of a Christian nursery worker who was sacked by her employer after she expressed views against homosexuality and gay marriage.

Sarah Mbuyi, 31, was sacked by Newpark Childcare in Shepherd’s Bush, London in January 2014 on the grounds of gross misconduct. This occurred after she told a lesbian colleague that the homosexual lifestyle and gay marriage goes against the wishes of God. Ignoring EU laws on religious freedom, her employers promptly dismissed her from the nursery.

Ms Mbuyi, a Belgian citizen living in Tottenham, claims she never intended to harm her colleague and that she was only responding to questions that this co-worker asked her on the subject of same-sex marriage; a conversation that began when Ms Bbuyi’s colleague expressed disappointment she cannot marry her partner in a church.

Ms Mbuyi has now expressed her side of the story, claiming the colleague directly asked her whether God would approve of the relationship despite being fully aware of Ms Bbuyi’s Christian beliefs and the Bible’s position on the subject.

She was supported throughout the tribunal by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which states the claimant was instantly targeted with false claims of intolerance because she follows the bible’s stance on condemning homosexual practice.

Although the employment tribunal at Watford ruled it unlikely that managers of Newpark Childcare hold discriminative views against Christian belief, they did take into account that Ms Mbuyi was probably dismissed from her position based on “stereotypical assumptions about her beliefs” made by the company. Ms Mbuyi agreed with this ruling, saying “there were other Christians employed there, and there was never any campaign against them.”

The tribunal explained its ruling by acknowledging that if employees were to be prevented from expressing views on homosexuality there would be an even greater impact on the religious freedom of the Christian faith because a significant number of Christians hold such views, and many evangelical Christians even feel that their faith requires them to share this viewpoint.

Ms Mbuyi spoke of her contentment at the ruling: “I only ever responded to questions that my colleague asked me […] I give glory to God for the decision and say ‘well done’ to the Christian Legal Centre. I hope that my previous employer and colleagues are well and will understand from this that my intention was for their best.”

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Tiffany Clutterbuck, a director of Newpark Childcare, claimed that the company was only acting in what they deemed the most appropriate fashion: “We have robust policies and rules to ensure our nursery is inclusive and supportive for our children and staff and we took the decision to dismiss Miss Mbuyi with a view to protecting that culture”.