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Lillian Ladele |
Registrar row: leader under attack
TOWN Hall leader James Kempton came under fire this week over his handling of the case of Christian registrar Lillian Ladele, who refused to ‘marry’ gay couples.
Cllr Kempton has been criticised for failing to act on a briefing by council officials after Ms Ladele was summoned to a disciplinary hearing in September 2007.
Ms Ladele won her employment tribunal case last week after a panel upheld her claim that Islington Council had discriminated against her by not accommodating her religious beliefs. She had worked at the Town Hall for 14 years but after revealing her views on gay couples was told she would be fired if she continued to refuse to officiate at civil ceremonies.
Tens of thousands of pounds have already been spent fighting a case that, after last week’s unanimous judgment, has set a legal precedent for local authorities across the country.
Councillor Catherine West, leader of the Labour group, asked: “How could the council have got this so wrong?” And former council leader Derek Sawyer said the council should ?have acted quickly after being alerted by officials at the Town Hall.
Cllr Kempton could not say for certain this week when or if he was personally informed of the matter. He told the Tribune: “I cannot remember when I was informed. The disciplinary was roughly a year ago. I am sure we would have been briefed by officials at some point and they would have known it could be of national importance.
“It is quite wrong to say we were not briefed. But councillors were in no way involved in the disciplinary or in taking the case forward – that would be quite wrong. Councillors do not get involved in staffing matters.”
Ms Ladele, who lives in Skinner Street, Finsbury, made her first official complaint about civil partnerships in November 2005. But despite the 47-year-old’s repeated pleas for her “genuine religious beliefs” to be considered, it was almost two years before high-level council officials became directly involved.
She was called before a disciplinary panel in September 2007 by the council’s director of resources Louise Round and the council’s lawyer, David Daniels.
Ms Round, a senior figure at the Town Hall, warned Ms Ladele she could be sacked for refusing to marry gay couples on account of her religious beliefs.
Until 1998, councillors were required to sit on disciplinary panels. But the former Labour administration, in a move criticised by unions at the time, changed the rules, claiming too much councillors’ time was being wasted with “petty” decisions.
Mr Sawyer, leader of the council when the changes came into effect in 1998, said: “As I remember we made this change because councillors felt they were becoming too involved in management issues.
“I don’t think it makes much difference because any matters of national importance arising from a panel should still be immediately communicated to the senior committee. If it wasn’t, then it should have done. If that advice was ignored then that is the council’s fault. This was a case of wider importance, with issues that should have been acted upon by the council.”
Camden and Westminster councils have similar arrangements, although in Westminster councillors sometimes sit on employment appeal hearings.
Andrew Berry, secretary of Islington Unison trade union, said: “This change was imposed on us in 1998 by Labour to the detriment of our members. They shifted responsibility to the council officials, devolving responsibility to management. There is less accountability.”
The council this week said it would appeal against the tribunal’s unanimous judgement.
Baroness Sarah Ludford, Islington’s European Parliament member, said “a coach and horses will now be driven through the existing UK and planned EU bans on discrimination”.
Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn has put his name to a House of Commons motion urging a law change – to make it clear “public servants should not be allowed to discriminate because of their personal prejudices” – if the council appeal fails.
Lib Dem councillor John Gilbert said: “This isn’t a decision we’ve taken lightly, but we believe an important question is at stake and the law must be clarified.”
A council spokesman said Ms Ladele, on a £31,000-a-year salary, is still on Islington’s payroll “until an appeal may allow otherwise”. She has not been seen at work by her colleagues since the hearing in May.
Islington Tribune comment
Choice between faith and demands of job |
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