A theatre nurse who lost her job after refusing to remove her small cross pendant has won her unfair dismissal claim against the hospital trust.
Mary Onuoha, a Catholic, had worn the necklace since the start of her employment with Croydon Health Services NHS Trust in 2001. She was first asked to remove it in 2014 but refused on religious grounds.
The trust’s Dress Code and Uniform Policy prohibited wearing necklaces in clinical areas for health and safety reasons, but it had not been enforced. Onuoha came under increasing pressure to remove her necklace. She eventually resigned and claimed constructive dismissal.
The Employment Tribunal found that, in principle, the trust’s objective in protecting patient health and safety was important enough to justify the limitation of a fundamental right.
However, its treatment of Onuoha and her necklace was arbitrary in light of its treatment of hijabs, turbans, kalava bracelets, neckties and other jewellery worn in breach of the uniform policy.
There was no proper explanation as to why those items were permitted, but a cross necklace was not.
Her dismissal was therefore unfair and discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010. However, the tribunal did not accept that the trust was deliberately targeting the cross as a symbol of the Christian faith or that it had acted out of prejudice towards the Christian faith.
