Vicar Accused of Bullying Forced To Go To The Tribunal

 
Day after day Employment Tribunals in the UK deal with tales of woe similar to divorce – a breakdown in relations between an employer and employee are seldom easy and are often accompanied by strong emotions on both sides.

Recently we have seen a vicar take the Church of England to the Employment Tribunal – and win – in a battle to be recognised as an employee. But what happens when the breakdown occurs between a vicar and the parishioners themselves?

A bitter feud broke out in the parish of Trumpington on the outskirts of Cambridge where parishioners alleged that there was a “pastoral breakdown” between the Rev Tom Ambrose and his congregation at St Mary and St Michael Church. This led to a very rare decision, on the part of the Church of England, to deal with the matter at an Ecclesiastical Tribunal.

For his part Reverend Ambrose states that he wanted to modernise the parish with small changes such as moving pews to make way for coffee mornings and installing new lavatories at the church.

Some parishioners told a different story at the Tribunal in London. They said the vicar told members of the congregation, who did not agree with him, to leave and made personal attacks on opponents during sermons. Parishioners even claimed that the vicar spat at one of his churchwardens and described him as a “bully and a liar.” The Reverend responded by saying members of the parochial church council were deliberately undermining him. His wife also told the Tribunal he had even received death threats signed “the Archangel Michael.”

The principles in the case seem similar to those relied upon in cases of a breakdown of a relationship between employer and employee. In this case, a representative of the parish parochial council said that the parish had lost all trust in Rev Ambrose and that “ if there is no trust between the parish and the priest then the mission of the Church of England has failed.”

Breach of trust and confidence alleged by an employee is often a key area examined by the Employment Tribunal when making decisions on constructive dismissal. Employers can also dismiss an employee on the grounds that he has breached the duty of trust and confidence – perhaps by deliberately damaging the business.

But fair dismissals on the grounds of a ‘difficult personality’ are rare. An Employment Appeal Tribunal has found that an employee who was good at his job but whose conduct destroyed any chance of a good working relationship had contributed 100% to his dismissal. Employers should not rely upon this decision and need to think very carefully before dismissing on the grounds of awkward personality.

The outcome of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal into the alleged behaviour of the Reverend Ambrose remains to be seen but there are unlikely to be any winners in this rather unchristian tale of a Parish at war.

Published 11/09/2007. The author of this article is Holly Cudbill