London : Mary Onuoha, a theatre practitioner at Croydon university hospital, who was victimised for wearing a necklace with a Christian cross at work has won a case for unfair dismissal.
Onuoha, a Catholic, wore a necklace with a small cross pendant both in and out of work as a symbol of her religious devotion.
However, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust claimed that their uniform policy prohibited the wearing of necklaces in clinical areas on the basis that they could be a health and safety risk.
Onuoha was asked to remove her necklace in 2014, 13 years after she began working at the hospital. She refused for religious reasons. The issue was raised again in 2015 and 2016.
The refusal led to her suspension from clinical duties and demoted to working as a receptionist. The demotion she said left her feeling humiliated. She resigned in 2020 and claimed constructive and unfair dismissal.
She argued that the trust had breached her right to religion under article 9 of the European convention on human rights, and that her treatment was religious discrimination, harassment and victimisation under the 2010 Equality Act.
According to the tribunal’s ruling, the wearing of jewellery, including necklaces, was “rife” among the trust’s workforce and was “widely tolerated” by management.
The trust allowed employees to wear other items of religious apparel such as bracelets and many other religious apparels. “There was no proper explanation as to why those items were permitted but a cross-necklace was not,” the ruling said.
The trust had “directly discriminated against and harassed” Onuoha, and her “dismissal had been both discriminatory and unfair”.
Onuoha said: “My cross has been with me for 40 years. It is part of me, and my faith, and it has never caused anyone any harm. Yet my small cross around my neck was deemed so dangerous that I was no longer allowed to do my job. I am a strong woman, but I have been treated like a criminal.”
Onouha had the ardent support from Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre.
with inputs from Guardian, Image courtesy Dailymail