Celestina Mba, a devout Nigerian Christian and children’s care worker living in London was sacked after refusing to work on Sundays. A judge ruled last year that not all Christians observed the Sabbath as religious so Mba lost the case against her employers. The 52 year old devout baptist christian has launched a fresh legal battle against her employers.
Mba, who is now working a new job in south west London which allows her to take Sundays off, quit her previous job in 2010 after a row broke out.
Between 2007 when she was first employed and 2008 Mba claims her employers, Brightwell children's home, were happy to accommodate her request after she mentioned it at her interview.
However in 2008 she was told she would have to work, and began getting other staff members to cover for her, until she was called to a disciplinary hearing in 2010 after which she left. During the case she said:
‘I was willing to work at any unsocial time of shift in order to preserve my Sundays, I was prepared to work nights, or Saturdays.'
She argued that she doesn't just go to church on Sundays, but spends the whole day caring for vulnerable people in her community as part of her church's ministerial team.
John Deegan, Mba's manager who also gave evidence at the time, told the tribunal he did not believe she had specified she could not work Sundays.
Christian campaigners hope this week's case could provide a welcome victory for a faith they feel has been overlooked when it comes to sensitive issues.
Mba's case was launched after Nadia Eweida won her case in the European Court of Human Rights over the right to wear a cross at work.
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