Gay man awarded £37,000 for grotesquely discriminatory conduct

A gay man who suffered what an employment tribunal described as “grotesquely discriminatory conduct” from the Presbyterian Church in Wales, including being referred to as a “stupid poof”, has been awarded £37,000 after he was successful in his constructive dismissal and sexual orientation discrimination claims.

Stephen Price, who is openly homosexual, worked as assistant manager, reporting to Mair Jones, a manager, at Coleg Trefeca, a 250-year-old centre operating as a 37-bed retreat visited by church groups across the UK. Mr Price alleged that he was forced to leave  his job because of the humiliating and demeaning behaviour meted out to him by Mrs Jones. The church had denied Mr Price’s claim for constructive dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The tribunal accepted Mr Price’s evidence that Mrs Jones called him a “stupid poof”, gave him pink fairy toilet paper as a gift and had told other members of staff he “batted for the other side”. The tribunal found that the church’s internal investigation into Mr Price’s claims of harassment was unfair, unbalanced, confused and contradictory. Furthermore the church’s final recommendation that Mr Price should go back to work with Mrs Jones amounted to constructive dismissal, since the investigation had upheld claims of aggressive behaviour, foul language and bullying by Mrs Jones.

The tribunal concluded that Mr Price suffered grotesquely discriminatory conduct at the hands of of Mair Jones for 10 weeks. This was followed by seriously incompetent discrimination on the part of the church. He was awarded £12,000 for constructive dismissal and £25,000 for injury to his feelings