A teacher at an orthodox Jewish nursery who was sacked for ‘living in sin’ with her boyfriend has won her case of religious and sexual discrimination.
Zelda de Groen, 24, said she was subjected to a ‘humiliating’ interview by bosses at Gan Menachem nursery in Hendon, north London.
She said they probed her private life and told her that, at 23, she should be married and that having kids outside of marriage would ‘not be tolerated’.
The tribunal heard she was hauled out of classes for the ‘chat’ after some parents at the Gan Menachem nursery complained about her living with her boyfriend Oz Waknin.
When she asked for an apology over the hour-long dressing down she had received, she was disciplined and sacked.
Ms de Groen, now 24 and married to Mr Waknin, successfully sued the nursery for direct and indirect religious discrimination, direct sex discrimination and harassment.
In their ruling, the tribunal panel said: ‘She was dealing with senior managers who were behaving rather like an overbearing mother and elder sister.
‘The effect was undoubtedly humiliating, degrading and offensive. The claimant was distraught during and after the meeting and reasonably so.
‘She was being probed about her private life in ways which suggested that she was behaving badly and foolishly.
‘The conduct of the [nursery] after that meeting was equally offensive and hurtful to the claimant and continued her humiliation and degradation.’
She attended a private barbecue with her boyfriend Oz Waknin on May 26 last year where parents and teachers, and the nursery’s founder Mendy Freundlich, chatted, and heard they were living together.
After the barbecue, up to five parents spoke to the nursery about the couple living together out of wedlock, the tribunal heard.
One parent suggested they might not allow their child to return to the over-subscribed nursery the next year if they were to be taught by her.
A month after the barbecue she was taken out of her class for an interview with headteacher Miriam Lieberman and nursery manager Dina Toron.
Miss de Groen said they made ‘a continuous personal attack on my life choices’, particularly her decision to live with her partner. She described their tone as ‘threatening’ and added: ‘They told me it is not allowed to live with another person prior to marriage and that to do so is against what people in our workplace should do.
‘I was told that having kids outside of marriage is wrong and will not be tolerated. Their comments, and the personal nature of the meeting, were humiliating.’
Following a disciplinary procedure she was sacked about a month later for bringing the nursery into disrepute, Watford Employment Tribunal heard.
Ms de Groen was brought up in an orthodox Jewish household until she was 16 when she moved to Israel.
She returned three years later but rejected ultra-orthodoxy and was trying to find a way to live as a Jew that suited her beliefs.
She had worked at the nursery for four years, rising to the position of team leader and although the nursery was run on ultra-orthodox lines many of the parents whose children went there held different beliefs within the Jewish spectrum.
During her employment Ms de Groen knew she had to comply with the ‘nursery’s ultra-orthodox teaching and rules while at work’, the hearing was told.
Some of her colleagues and parents knew the couple were living together, but did not express concern or disapproval.
The nursery denied any discrimination and that they acted on the recommendation of their HR company.
Employment Judge Andrew Clarke QC said the couple ‘made no secret of their living together’ and said she was asked to lie about it.
The panel wrote: ‘We consider that Mrs Toron and Mrs Lieberman did deliberately indicate at the meeting that this might provide an acceptable solution to the problem.
‘However, the claimant failed to understand that this is what the respondent wanted because lying is contrary to Orthodox Jewish beliefs (and her own beliefs) and she simply did not expect either of those two ladies to be asking her to lie. The fact remains that they were.
He added: ‘It is repugnant to generally accepted standards of morality to require someone to lie, especially about matters so concerned with their protected human rights.’
The tribunal concluded that a male teacher would not have been treated in such a way and that the root of the problem was interpretation of their religion.
The panel wrote: ‘The claimant can properly be said to subscribe to the Jewish faith whilst holding different particular religious beliefs from some other Jewish believers.
‘The claimant was dismissed because she had co-habited, something contrary to the beliefs of some (at least) of those responsible for the management of the respondent and because she would not (untruthfully) say that she was no longer co-habiting.’
After her victory in the employment tribunal, a remedy hearing will take place at a later date where compensation will be considered.