Higgs v Farmor's School: Appeal of Employment Appeal Tribunal Decision

Sep 30, 2024

Kristie Higgs was sacked by Farmor's School when a single complaint was made about certain Facebook posts of hers, about the teaching of RSE and 'gender’. She claimed religious (Christian) and belief discrimination, but lost. She appealed, and the decision was overturned, but the case was directed to be re-heard at the ET.

The appeal decision, ‘the Eady decision’, included a comprehensive road map of how, in Mrs Justice Eady's view, employment tribunals should analyse claims on the basis of belief discrimination.

Mrs Higgs is now appealing the Eady decision, arguing that it should not have sent the case back for re-hearing but should instead have fully overturned the first decision and found that she had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against.

Interventions will be made by the Archbishops Council of the Church of England, the Free Speech Union, Sex Matters, the Association of Christian Teachers and possibly the EHRC, arguing against the Eady decision reasoning on belief cases in general.

See our previous coverage of this case:

Higgs v Farmor's School - Application for recusal - granted on 5 July 2022

Higgs v Farmor's School - Employment Appeal Tribunal - appeal granted 16/06/23

Status

The case consisted of legal argument in the Court of Appeal over two days; 2 and 3 October 2024. It was live-streamed on the judiciary’s channel - link here.

LATEST On 12th February, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Ms Higgs and that dismissal for free speech is illegal.

Read the judgment here

Kristie Higgs statement

Announcement from Christian Concern on X/Twitter

Case Information & Documents

Grounds of Appeal

Submission of 1st Intervenor - Archbishops Council of the Church of England

Submission of the 4th Intervenor - Sex Matters

Live Tweeting sessions

2 October 2024 Morning session

2 October 2024 Afternoon session

3 October 2024 Morning session

3 October 2024 Afternoon session - note this thread incorrectly identifies the first intervenor making submissions as JC (for EHRC) when it was SFB (for Archbishops Council)

Abbreviations

AB: Appellent Barrister for Kristie Higgs also referred to as RO
RB : Respondent Barrister for Farmor's School also referred to as SJ
J: Judge P: Panel (supporting tribunal panel members assisting J)
A or KH: Appellant, Kristie Higgs
R or FS: Respondent, Farmor's School

RO - Richard O’Dair, barrister for KH SJ - Sean Jones KC for for Farmor’s School CM - Chris Milson, junior counsel for Farmor’s School. SFB - Sarah Fraser Butlin KC barrister for Archbishops Council JC - Jo Clements KC barrister for EHRC

ET - Employment tribunal
EAT - Employment Appeal Tribunal

AC: Archbishops Council of the Church of England
FSU: Free Speech Union
SM: Sex Matters
ACT: Association of Christian Teachers

EHRC: Equality and Human Rights Commission or ‘Commission’
ED: Eady Decision
TG: Transgender
RSE: Relationship & Sexuality Education
EA: Equality Act 2010

PC: Protected Characteristic
CoE: Church of England