The Christian Legal Centre is taking up the case of a woman previously found guilty of bullying her Muslim colleague at the Employment Tribunal. Victoria Wasteney, a senior occupational therapist, was disciplined for praying for Enya Nawaz, a newly appointed Muslim therapist being managed by Wasteney, when she approached her with worries about her health and problems at home. On another occasion, Wasteney offered her a book about a Muslim woman who had converted to Christianity, and invited her to several church events.
Wasteney, who worked for the East London NHS Foundation Trust, was found guilty of three charges of misconduct in bullying her colleague and was given a written warning which remained on her records for a year following a nine month suspension.
Today, Wasteney took the NHS Trust to the Employment Tribunal, and was represented by the Christian Legal Centre, the organisation behind a spate of spurious ‘persecution’ cases taken to the European Court of Human Rights.
BHA Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns Pavan Dhaliwal commented, ‘The Christian Legal Centre is attempting to spin this flagrant disregard for an employee’s wellbeing and clear attempt to convert in the workplace into a narrative of “Christian persecution”. Whether well-intentioned or not, anyone can recognise that offering a book about a Muslim converting to Christianity to a junior Muslim employee who you are managing, and also praying for them when they come to you with a personal problem, is quite unacceptable. This is aggravated by the power dynamic in place here; the manager took advantage of her position in acting as she did. It is wholly irresponsible to make such hyperbolic claims as religious persecution when hundreds of people around the world today are subject to real, often violent, religiously motivated persecution and hate crime.’
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For further comment or information, please contact BHA Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns Pavan Dhaliwal on pavan@humanists.uk or 0773 843 5059.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.