O'Neill v Governors of St Thomas More Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Upper School
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 24 May 1996 |
| Date | 24 May 1996 |
| Court | Employment Appeal Tribunal |
Employment Appeal Tribunal
Before Mr Justice Mummery, Mrs P Turner and Mrs R A Vickers
Sex discrimination - unfair dismissal - pregnancy of religious education teacher
Governors of a Roman Catholic school discriminated against a teacher of religious education on the ground of her sex when they constructively dismissed her after she had become pregnant in a relationship with a Roman Catholic priest and the relationship had become public knowledge.
The distinction drawn by the industrial tribunal which had found against the applicant, between pregnancy per se and pregnancy in the circumstances of the case was legally erroneous. Pregnancy always had surrounding circumstances and the critical question was whether on an objective consideration of all the surrounding circumstances the dismissal was on the ground of pregnancy.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal so held when allowing an appeal by the applicant, Mrs Monica O'Neill, from the dismissal by a Bedford industrial tribunal in October 1994 of her complaint of unlawful discrimination against the governors of the school.
Mr Jeremy McMullen, QC and Mrs Helen Gower for Mrs O'Neill; Mr John Bowers for the governors.
MR JUSTICE MUMMERY said that the applicant was a teacher of religious education and personal relationships at the school. The governors were the applicant's employers.
In November 1991 the headmaster was told that the applicant was pregnant. At the time she was absent from the school through illness.
By the spring of 1992 the headmaster knew that it was as a result of a relationship with a Roman Catholic priest who made regular visits to the school to give advice and guidance to pupils and teachers.
In May 1992 the governors took the decision to dismiss the applicant. They offered her the chance of returning to the school after her confinement for a term and then resigning.
The applicant did not agree to resigning. In July the school stopped paying her salary and in August she told the press of her story and numerous articles started to appear in the local and national press.
In subsequent industrial tribunal proceedings the applicant's claim of unfair constructive dismissal was accepted by the governors. The tribunal dismissed the claim of sex discrimination.
It found that an important motive for the dismissal was not the applicant's pregnancy per se but the fact that the...
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...would suffice for the claim if it was a “substantial reason” for the decision. In O’Neill v Governors of Thomas More School [1997] ICR 33 it was held that the protected characteristic needed to be a cause of the decision, but did not need to be the only or a main cause. In Igen v [2005] IRL......
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