A US organist has won an employment tribunal case against a parish.
In June 2020, Dr Jenifer was fired from her position as director of music at St Mary and St Peter Church, Staines in Surrey. The parish committee believed that the role could be performed by someone else for less money. They dismissed the musician after 10 years, when she first took the job in November 2010
After consultations between August and Oktober, Dr Fraser brought the case before the tribunal on 1 Nov 2020. Dr Fraser’s claims for unfair dismissal were upheld by the court, but her claims of sex and race discrimination were denied.
The judge at the Reading tribunal, , Judith George ruled that removing Dr Fraser’s post was “manifestly unjust” and made in an “irregular” manner.
In this role, Dr Fraser was responsible for playing the organ and organising choir practice. She also ran a handbell group. She first felt the pressure to leave her post in 2016.
Dr Fraser claimed that “comments made in bad taste were about whether or not she would play British patriotic songs because she was American”. The judge, however, ruled that this was not enough evidence to prove race discrimination.
The tribunal did not disclose the exact amount of the organist’s salary.
The parish was in a poor financial state and the senior officials doubted that they could afford to hire a musician with Dr Fraser’s caliber, according to testimony before the tribunal.
Dr Fraser claimed that she was hurt by the remarks, and they “slighted her professionalism”.
In 2020, a standing committee of the Parochial Church Council was convened to look at whether there could be savings made by examining posts and salaries.
The tribunal’s report stated that the collective opinion of the standing committee at the end of the session was to remove [Dr Fraser’s] position of director of music because it was felt the salary was’very expensive relative to our income.’
Dr Fraser was asked to attend a meeting that was scheduled for January 24, 2020. She was informed by the PCC that they had voted to eliminate the position of director of Music.
The court heard that an anonymous donor offered to fund a musician’s position, but the church turned him down.
In February 2020 Dr Fraser filed a complaint about her treatment. She alleged that no discussion had taken place to determine that her position was in danger before the decision. She appealed her dismissal.
The judge found that “the style and type of music [Dr Fraser] is known for” was not of intrinsic value to all parishioners.
She said, however, that it appeared as though the decision had consequences on the size of the congregation.
“[Dr Fraser]’s supporters would no doubt argue passionately as they did during the hearing in front of us that the tradition at St Peters needed to be respected, and that there was risk that parishioners would leave and their giving could decrease if the position of director was not held by an experienced professional.
There are also several letters to this effect from members of the community.”
The judge pointed out that it was not only Covid that had caused the decline in congregation size.
The tribunal upheld her claim of unfair dismissal and ruled that her dismissal was “manifestly unjust in all circumstances”.
The report of the tribunal stated that “the only time the PCC considered whether or not to make the post redundant was 23 January 2020.”
Then, “They decided that on that date the position should be made redundant.”
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The tribunal found that, if the fair dismissal procedure had been followed by the employer, there was a 40% probability that a claimant would be dismissed due to redundancy.
To account for this chance, it was decided to deduct 40% from Dr Frazer’s compensation.
