MEPS set to back human job rights for those doing God’s work

Date: 07/11/02

MEPS were today (7 November) expected to back calls to bring a UK law which denies the clergy the same employment rights as other workers into line with the rest of the EU.It follows the case of a sacked British vicar, Reverend Ray Owen, who says he cannot fight to get his job back because in the UK he is deemed to be 'employed by God', and is an office-holder rather than an employee.

The former Church of England rector claims he was dismissed from his post in 1999 with no right to take his case to an industrial tribunal. But his earthly superiors, the diocese, argue he refused to take any alternative jobs offered to him after his fixed-term contract expired.

Owen, 64, will argue his case for better employment rights for the clergy at a meeting of the Parliament's petitions committee today.Its members will vote on a report which calls for UK national employment legislation - dating back to 1911 - to be brought into line with rest of the EU.

Owen's case has been taken up by Socialist MEP Glyn Ford, who said: 'In Denmark, Germany and some other member states, clergy have employment status and access to their domestic tribunals or labour courts.

'The exclusion of UK clergy applies to all denominations and has created an anomalous position which the European Parliament takes very seriously.'

Owen, who is backed by a trade union, Amicus, said: 'I've been discriminated against.

'The British legal system is caught in a time-warp and, because of some arcane court rulings, our clergy are bypassed by all the natural employment rights granted to other workers over the last 80 years.'

MEPs were expected on 7 November 2002 to back calls to bring a UK law which denies the clergy the same employment rights as other workers into line with the rest of the EU.