Lilian Ladele, who had worked for Islington council, refused to conduct civil partnership ceremonies claiming that doing so would go against her religious beliefs.
When registrar contracts were changed Ladele was no longer able to swap civil ceremonies with a colleague.
Ladele claimed she was being forced to choose between her beliefs and her job.An Industrial Tribunal initially ruled in her favour having the judgement was overturned on appeal.
Whilst the ECHR rejected her claim, there were dissenting voices on the panel: “No one should be forced to act against one’s conscience or be penalised for refusing to act against one’s conscience,” claimed Montenegrin judge Nebojsa Vucinic and Matlese judge Vincent de Gaetano.
“A combination of backstabbing by her colleagues and the blinkered political correctness of the borough of Islington (which clearly favoured ‘gay rights’ over fundamental human rights) eventually led to her dismissal,” they added.
A relationship councillor also had his claim rejected after he refused to give therapy to sex-same couples.
A BA check-in worker won her appeal for the right to wear a small cross with her work uniform, on the basis that other religious groups had been allowed to wear religious items without being deigned to have ‘tainted’ the corporation’s brand.
Shirley Chaplin, a nurse had her claim rejected, saying that her right to wear a cross whilst working in a ward was trumped by right of patients to be treated in an environment free from health and safety risks.
