Miss Wasteney, from Ilford, had been the £50,000-a-year head of
forensic occupational therapy at the John Howard Centre in Homerton, a
secure hospital for mentally ill patients, since 2007. She
took the trust to an employment tribunal
claiming it had failed to clear her of wrongdoing after an eight-month
disciplinary process because it would be "politically incorrect" to find
a Christian innocent.
The trust insists the disciplinary hearing was fair and denies it discriminated against Miss Wasteney.
The decision was upheld by an employment tribunal, but now lawyers have
lodged an appeal citing article 9 of the European Convention on Human
Rights, which protects freedom of conscience and religion.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said:
"The tribunal found it was inappropriate for her to engage in prays [sic] or
give her colleague a book given her senior position.
"She is just an open, friendly, kind person and had a normal relationship with a colleague and there was nothing untoward. We are going to the Employment Appeals Tribunal and will be arguing
that the ECHR enshrines the freedom to be able to speak about faith in
the workplace and not be disciplined for it and have conversations with
others. We lodged the papers on Thursday."
She added: "The NHS is increasingly dominated by a suffocating liberal
agenda that chooses to bend over backwards to accommodate certain
beliefs but punishes the Christian."
The tribunal had heard Miss
Nawaz, whom Miss Wasteney had previously met when she was a student,
started as an occupational therapist as part of a group of 30 managed by
Miss Wasteney. Miss Wasteney told the tribunal the younger
woman had "sought a personal friendship" with her as well as regularly
seeking her out for advice on how to "grow professionally within the
service".
She added they would speak in a "mutually curious" way
about their "shared passion for the things of God", adding it was "not
unusual" for Miss Nawaz to initiate conversations about faith.
Miss Wasteney said it was the Muslim woman who had first approached her
about her interest in combating human trafficking and was "so excited"
when she came to an anti-slavery event hosted by the Christian Revival
Church at the O2 Arena, which she attended.
She said Miss Nawaz
had then come to her in tears because she was upset about health
problems and had agreed for Miss Wasteney to pray for her. Miss
Wasteney also gave Miss Nawaz a book, "I Dared to Call Him Father",
about a Muslim woman who converts to Christianity - but denied it was an
attempt to make her convert.
On June 14 2013, the claimant was
presented with the complaint by her supervisor John Wilson, which
accused her of wanting to convert Miss Nawaz to Christianity. The allegations included Miss Wasteney requesting Miss Nawaz pray with
her, setting up healing sessions at Miss Nawaz's house and telling she
would not be healed unless she was converted. She was suspended
on the grounds of "gross misconduct" and a hearing held in February 2014
heard there had been a breakdown in the "firewall" between her personal
beliefs and her work.
She was given a final written warning as a
result, which was later reduced to first written warning on appeal. She
returned to work in March 2014, but alleged the "hostility" she
experienced pressured her into leaving the John Howard centre and moving
to the trust's headquarters.
Victoria Wasteney was suspended by the NHS
No comments:
Post a Comment