Bishop fined in discrimination case
13 February 2008
A bishop has been ordered to attend equal opportunities training and pay a gay youth worker nearly £50,000 for refusing him a job on the grounds of his sexuality.
Mr Reaney applied for the job in July 2006, having already worked in two Church of England dioceses where he had been praised for his achievements. In addition he had been told by his interviewers that he was the outstanding candidate for the job.
However during a two hour interview with Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, Mr Reaney claimed that he was asked intrusive questions about his sexuality which had left him feeling embarrassed. Three days after the interview the bishop telephoned him to say his application had been unsuccessful.
Mr Reaney took the Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance to an employment tribunal. The tribunal ruled that Bishop Priddis had acted unlawfully and had discriminated against Mr Reaney on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Under the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, it is illegal to discriminate against people as a result of their sexual orientation, but the law does contain an exemption for organised religion.
Liam Kenealy of Ashton Morton Slack commented "This is a further example of how careful employers must be. As more legislation is quite rightly brought in to protect employees they must keep themselves informed of updates. Discrimination can take many forms, sexual orientation being one of them. Many of us have heard about sex & race discrimination but there are many more. Even an off the cuff question at the end of an interview about which football team someone supports could lead to a claim for discrimination.
As seen in the above example an individual can be discriminated against at any time of his employment, even the interview stage. It is why more and more organisations are setting up full time Human Resources departments and/or liaising closely with employment law specialists."