Lainie Chait is seeking damages for unfair dismissal after she was allegedly sacked by the Newcastle-based Church of Ubuntu for getting a COVID-19 vaccination.
Lainie Chait claims she was unfairly dismissed by her employer after she received the COVID-19 jab.Elise Derwin
Ms Chait worked for the church,which runs a wellness clinic that sells medicinal hemp products,as a client consultant for 12 months but was dismissed in October after her boss found out she had received the jab.
A letter from the church’s vice-president Karen Burge praised Ms Chait’s work but said getting a vaccination was inconsistent with its religious teachings.
“It is the position of the COU that to receive the COVID-19/Sars Cov 2 injection consciously and deliberately with intent is in contradiction with our Constitution and contrary to our position on what is required of us by our Lord God and Creator,” she said.
Ms Chait could no longer remain a church member and a subcontractor,according to Ms Burge’s letter. “The COU is currently making arrangements to assist Lainie by offering her alternative work arrangements as a subcontractor through our affiliates.”
Ms Chait said she opted to get vaccinated “to be able to travel,cross borders and see my family and friends in other countries and states of Australia”.
Ms Chait,who has epilepsy,said she supported the church’s efforts to provide holistic approaches to health other than western medicine.
“However,I don’t support how I was treated,nor do I support being shunned by people in the wellness industry for making a choice that was right for me and my health,” she said.
She also disputed the description of her as a subcontractor rather than an employee entitled to protection against unfair dismissal.
Ms Chait is seeking damages equal to about three months’ wages plus back payments for superannuation and other entitlements not paid during her employment.
Lainie Chait’s solicitor Mark Swivel said the decision to terminate her employment due to her vaccination was “inherently unfair”.Elise Derwin
The unfair dismissal claim comes amid a parliamentary inquiry on the federal government’s Religious Discrimination Bill,which opponents fear will lead to workplace discrimination.
The Sydney Anglican Diocese said in a that a gay Sydney schoolteacher was not terminated in January 2021 because of her sexuality but because she believed Christians should be able to enter same-sex relationships.
The debate about the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill often neglects to acknowledge religious institutions are already permitted to make discriminatory hiring and firing decisions so long as they are motivated by their religious beliefs,according to Joellen Riley Munton,a professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney.
Professor Munton said religions did not have to prove their reasons are valid according to some measure of objective rationality.
“They just have to establish that they took their decision in good faith,to avoid ‘injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents of that religion or creed’,” she said.
Ms Chait’s solicitor Mark Swivel said the decision to terminate her employment due to vaccination was “inherently unfair”.
“There is nothing in the decision to vaccinate by an employee that relates to their performance or suitability for the work they were hired to do,” he said.
A church spokesman said the religious organisation did not believe it had any claim to defend as Ms Chait “was never an employee and they consider the entire affair around the[church] and[wellness clinic] somewhat of a media ruse”.
He said the church was “pro-choice,not anti-vax”.
The church’s website said it was carrying “on the Ubuntu tradition as taught by Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu”.
Archbishop Tutu received the COVID jab in before his death last week.
The church spokesman said Archbishop Tutu was a great man who did great work,but the church was “not in any way limited by him or his personal views in regards to COVID-19”.
“The Ubuntu Philosophy is far greater than that,” he said. “Unfortunately many great religious leaders and religious organisations are in their view unfortunately not honouring their original teachings in regards to the COVID-19 inoculations.”
Mr Swivel said there was nothing specifically religious in making a health decision to be vaccinated.
“There is no specific prohibition on vaccination in the doctrine of the employer organisation,only a very broad invocation of ‘nature’ and the ‘Church’ may argue that vaccination is ‘against’ that broad principle,” he said.
Even if the church had more latitude than other employers because of its religious nature,Mr Swivel said it was difficult to see the Fair Work Commission deciding it was reasonable to sack Ms Chait because of her COVID-19 jab.
A spokesman for the federal Attorney-General’s Department declined to comment as the matter is before the FWC.
Professor Riley Munton said it was surprising that a church might claim its belief system includes the prohibition of vaccination.
“It is really a matter of opinion whether other religious beliefs are rational or not,” she said. “Is a belief that a person should not be divorced so rational,that it justifies terminating the employment of a school principal?”
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