Ms C Newman v The St Albans Diocesan Board of Finance and 6 others — 2022

The tribunal heard a preliminary issue on the claimant's status to bring claims arising from her role as a churchwarden at Christ Church and St John’s Radlett. The claimant had brought claims of race, sex and disability discrimination, together with detriment for making protected disclosures. The tribunal held that the role was governed by the Churchwardens Measure 2001 and other ecclesiastical law provisions, but that the claimant was elected by parishioners and then admitted to office; the ceremony did not make her an appointee of any respondent.

On the Equality Act issues, the tribunal found that the claimant was not an employee of any respondent, did not hold a personal office because she received no remuneration, did not hold a public office, and was not in a relationship with any respondent that made a qualifications body claim available. The tribunal accepted evidence that churchwardens receive no pay, are under no obligation to perform the duties, cannot be disciplined by the respondents for not carrying them out, and are not answerable to a manager. The limited suspension power in the Measure did not lie with the respondents before the tribunal.

On the whistleblowing claim, the tribunal considered the extended worker provisions in section 43K of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the reasoning in Gilham. It accepted that Article 10 was engaged by the claimant's allegation that she suffered detriment for making public interest disclosures, but held that churchwardens were not analogous to workers or employees with contracts, and that the Convention did not require section 230(3) to be construed so as to include churchwardens in the claimant's position. The tribunal therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the claims and dismissed them.