Employee allowed Sunday off to worship

An employee has been given Sunday off to attend church after more than a year of negotiations with his employer.

The unnamed employee and employer, a London tourist attraction, reached the agreement following the late intervention of the Christian Legal Centre.

The employer had been reluctant to grant Sunday off despite allowing one of their Muslim employees to have Fridays off.

The employee said: “I'm very grateful to the Christian Legal Centre for standing with me. I’d like to thank Standing Counsel Paul Diamond, Andrea Williams, CEO of the Christian Legal Centre, and Libby Blaxall, because without their help I may never have reached an agreement with my employers. I am so pleased that I can attend church on Sunday and continue my job.”

Andrea Minichiello Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “We are really pleased that our client will be able to continue in his job and that his desire to worship God on Sundays, according to his faith, will now be respected.

“There is usually a way to ensure that Christians who want to worship on Sundays are accommodated. We urge employers to do what they can, and take a common sense approach.”

Earlier this year, children’s worker Celestina Mba lost her job because her employers refused her request to have Sundays off on religious grounds.

Ms Mba had worked at the Brightwell Children’s Home in Morden for nearly three years. Her beliefs were initially accommodated by her employer, the London Borough of Merton, but it later changed its policy, forcing Ms Mba to choose between her job and her faith.

An employment tribunal ruled against her on the grounds that respecting Sunday as a day of worship was not a ‘core’ part of the Christian faith.