U.K. court ruling favors Christian school worker fired over social media posts

A panel of three judges in the United Kingdom on Wednesday reversed a ruling that had supported a school’s decision to fire Kristie Higgs in 2019. Higgs worked as a school pastoral assistant at Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire. The school fired Higgs after an anonymous person reported two of her private Facebook posts in which she raised questions about sex education lessons being taught at a Church of England school her son attended. She expressed concerns about transgender and homosexual ideology being taught in schools. Despite the posts being about a different school, her employer fired her for gross misconduct saying the posts could damage the school’s reputation.

What is the history of the case? An employment tribunal in 2020 dismissed Higgs’ claims of discrimination or harassment but an appeal tribunal in 2023 ruled in favor of her claim and remitted it back to the employment tribunal. The appeal tribunal found the original employment tribunal had not considered Higgs’ freedom of belief or expression. Higgs’ lawyers called the decision to send the claim back to the employment tribunal unnecessary and the appeals court Wednesday agreed, according to Christian Concern.

What else did the court say? The judges on Wednesday said the decision to take Higgs’ case back to an employment tribunal was unlawfully discriminatory. The court also said Higgs’ posts and beliefs in Biblical marriage and gender were protected by the Equality Act. In its ruling, the court said neither of the posts posed sufficient risk to Farmor’s School’s reputation to justify Higgs’ dismissal.

Dig deeper: Read my report about a chaplain in the U.K. who went to court after he was fired for preaching about Biblical sexuality.