(Image source: Mirror/Croydon Advertiser)
An NHS nurse has won a case in the UK after she was discriminated against for wearing a Christian cross necklace at work.
According to the Daily Mail, the employment tribunal found that there was “no cogent explanation” why the nurse, Mrs. Onuoha, would have been allowed to wear other items of jewellery, but that “a fine necklace with a small pendant of religious devotional significance is not.”
She claimed that she was subjected to a two-year campaign against her before she was forced out of her job.
Following the ruling, she said:
“This has always been an attack on my faith. My cross has been with me for 40 years. It is part of me, and my faith, and it has never caused anyone any harm.”
She also claimed that there were other staff who practised different faiths also wore religious items in theatre but they were not criticised for doing so.
The Tribunal found that the cross carried a very low rate of infection when worn by a responsible clinician like Mrs. Onuoha. They also found that the issue was dealt with very badly by the managers in charge, and that she was not being treated the same as colleagues who also wore religious items while working.
They found that Mrs. Onuoha was constructively dismissed without reasonable and proper cause, something that was unfair and discriminatory.
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