A Christian factory worker in Scotland who was fired for refusing to take off his crucifix necklace, which he said had a “deep and profound meaning,” has prevailed in a religious discrimination suit.
Jevgenijs Kovalkovs, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, was awarded more than $26,000 after an employment tribunal found his employer’s policy and its application were “indirectly discriminatory,” The Telegraph reported.
Employment Judge Louise Cowen said at a tribunal last week in Dundee that Kovalkovs “had lost a job as a result of the discrimination toward him,” according to the U.K. newspaper.
A quality inspector at 2 Sisters Food Group Limited in Coupar Angus, Scotland, Kovalkovs was ordered by a supervisor to take off the necklace — a gift from his mother that had 30 small links and was sanctified during his godchild’s baptism. The line manager said the necklace posed a “hazard” at the chicken wholesalers.
The company’s foreign body control policy prohibits jewelry from being worn “in the production areas on site, with the exception of a single plan band ring,” the Telegraph noted, adding that religious jewelry can be allowed after a “risk assessment” is conducted. In Kovalkovs’ case, the supervisor reportedly never carried out such an assessment.
Kovalkovs would be fired for not obeying an instruction — still on his probationary period, his employment ended “immediately.”
The employment tribunal found that Kovalkos’ firing was based “entirely” on the non-declaration of the necklace during the induction course he went through at the time of employment.
Mary Onuoha, a Christian nurse who worked at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust in London, prevailed in a similar case when the Employment Tribunal in the U.K. ruled in January in her favor, Fox News reported. Onuoha took legal action against her employer after resigning in June 2020, claiming she was targeted for years for wearing a small cross necklace that she was told posed “a health and safety risk.”
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
The persecution is slowly taking hold. The day is coming soon that there will be no legal recourse open except to comply. Or simply trust in the Lord and move on.
— Joe Wright (@JoeWrig74630915) June 21, 2022
I plan to hang two cross necklaces to go to work there
— EthyEasy (@ethyeasy) June 21, 2022
The nerve of him showing his christian faith
— Johnny U (@Johnnypatriot64) June 21, 2022
I wonder if it would have been a bigger story and pay out if it was a muslim person being discriminated against? Just asking!
— Michael Harris (@rekishi_repeats) June 21, 2022
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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