Background

St John’s Church, Downshire Hill, is one of the few surviving Church of England proprietary chapels. It is recognised as a congregation within the Diocese of London but is entirely self-supporting financially. The congregation owns the church building and receives no support from diocesan funds, nor does it contribute to them.

The Revd Jonathan Gould was employed by the trustees of the church as a minister from 1 September 1995 until his summary dismissal on 1 August 2016. He sued for wrongful dismissal, claiming that, whatever the ostensible grounds, the real reason for his dismissal was the difficulties that he was having in his marriage. Had he not been married he would not have been dismissed and, therefore, he had been directly discriminated against on the ground of marriage, contrary to s.13 of the Equality Act 2010 read with s.39(2)(c). Continue reading →