A church accountant successfully sued a Catholic diocese after she was subjected to religious discrimination, it has emerged.
Janet Parker fell out with her boss after she asked for leave to care for her newly adopted daughter in 2020.
However, the following year, when her request for flexible working was refused, she complained, observing that “the Catholic church does not have a blemish-free history when it comes to adopted children or children in care”.
“I hoped that this kind of prejudice had been eradicated long ago,” she said. “Maybe I am wrong.”
After this Parker claimed to have been subjected to a “witch-hunt” by managers at the Clifton diocese inBristolfor alleged professional negligence which led to her being sacked from her £60,000-a-year role.
In April last year, she won claims against the diocese after a tribunal ruled the church organisation had discriminated against her, harassed her and then unfairly sacked her because she was not religious.
The details of the judgment emerged at a disciplinary hearing held in March this year and conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) into abusive messages Parker allegedly sent to the diocese’s chief operating officer, Lyn Murray, after her dismissal. The ICAEW has issued her with a caution over the abusive messages.
Parker had claimed the diocese’s approach to her flexible working request was “tainted by negative views of adoption, emanating from the religious beliefs of its staff”.
The employment judge Adam Midgley said that the way the diocese had handled the disciplinary process meant that Parker – as a non-Catholic – had been religiously discriminated against.
“[She] has argued that from the moment she challenged the [diocese], particularly from the point at which she referenced the Catholic church’s treatment of vulnerable children, her card was marked, and [it] closed ranks to protect itself and dismiss her.”
He described the investigation that led to her dismissal as appearing like a “witch-hunt” and said it was “derisory in its depth, unbalanced and focused on establishing fault”.
The tribunal judgment said Parker was discriminated against for being a “non-Catholic”.
When asked by reporters about her religious background, Parker said she was “atheist, always have been”.
Parker has yet to receive compensation as the diocese is understood to have launched an appeal.
The Clifton diocese declined to comment.