A Christian school worker who was dismissed after sharing social media posts about LGBT+ relationships teaching has won a Court of Appeal battle related to her dismissal.
Kristie Higgs lost her role as a pastoral administrator and work experience manager at Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 after sharing Facebook posts criticising plans to teach about LGBT relationships in primary schools.
The mother-of-two challenged a June 2023 Employment Appeal Tribunal judgment, which ruled in her favour but sent the case back to an employment tribunal for a fresh decision over whether her dismissal was lawful, which her lawyers told the Court of Appeal was “unnecessary”.
In a judgment on Wednesday – the latest stage of her years-long legal battle – three judges ruled in her favour, finding that the decision to remit the case back to an employment tribunal was “unlawfully discriminatory”.
Lord Justice Underhill, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Lady Justice Falk, said: “In the present case the claimant, who was employed in a secondary school, had posted messages, mostly quoted from other sources, objecting to Government policy on sex education in primary schools because of its promotion of ‘gender fluidity’ and its equation of same-sex marriage with marriage between a man and a woman.
“It was not in dispute… that the claimant’s beliefs that gender is binary and that same-sex marriage cannot be equated with marriage between a man and a woman are protected by the Equality Act.
“The school sought to justify her dismissal on the basis that the posts in question were intemperately expressed and included insulting references to the promoters of gender fluidity and ‘the LGBT crowd’ which were liable to damage the school’s reputation in the community: the posts had been reported by one parent and might be seen by others.
“However, neither the language of the posts nor the risk of reputational damage were capable of justifying the claimant’s dismissal in circumstances where she had not said anything of the kind at work or displayed any discriminatory attitudes in her treatment of pupils.”
In a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice following the judgment, Mrs Higgs said: “I pray that today will prove to be a landmark day for Christian freedoms and free speech.
“Christians have the right to express their beliefs on social media and at other non-work-related settings without fear of being punished by their employer.”
Mrs Higgs shared and commented on posts which raised concerns about relationship education at her son’s Church of England primary school.
Pupils were to learn about the No Outsiders In Our School programme, a series of books that teaches the Equality Act in primary schools.
Mrs Higgs, who posted on a private page under her maiden name, shared two posts in October 2018 to about 100 friends.
One of the posts referred to “brainwashing our children”.
The school received an anonymous complaint which led to Mrs Higgs’ suspension and, after a disciplinary hearing, dismissal for gross misconduct.
The school has previously denied dismissing Mrs Higgs because of her religious beliefs and said she was sacked because of the language used in the posts.
In a 2020 ruling, an employment tribunal concluded that Mrs Higgs’ religion is a “protected characteristic” as defined by the Equality Act, but the school lawfully dismissed her.
This was overturned by the Employment Appeal Tribunal in 2023 and the case was remitted, but Richard O’Dair, for Mrs Higgs, told the Court of Appeal in written submissions last October that the EAT provided “highly unsatisfactory guidance” which meant there was a risk Mrs Higgs “will be denied justice once again”.
Published: by Radio NewsHub
