Trainee vicar loses claims against bosses for 'discrimination' after claiming he was made to work on Sundays

By ANDY DOLAN, GENERAL REPORTER Published: 15:11, 12 June 2026 | Updated: 15:19, 12 June 2026 A receptionist in training to be a vicar sued for religious discrimination and unfair dismissal over shifts on a Sunday. Erich McElevey claimed he was the victim of discrimination for being allocated shifts on the Lord's day, and also complained that he had been stopped from reading the Bible. Mr McElevey further alleged he was discriminated against when he was disciplined for letting people into the sports centre for free because he was living out the Christian value of 'love my neighbour'. But an employment tribunal found that working on Sundays was not 'imposed' on the sports centre receptionist, and that Mr McElevey had actually requested to work on those days instead. Employment Judge Elizabeth Coll also said there were no messages found from managers to Mr McElevey relating to the Bible – and that he had been told not to read any books or use the internet at work. His claims for religious harassment and discrimination and another for unfair dismissal were all dismissed. The employment tribunal in Watford heard Mr McElevey worked at Wycombe Badminton Centre from June 2016. Mr McElevey alleged that from May 2020, his boss Alistair Jones told him not to read the Bible while working at the not-for-profit sports facility. Erich McElevey claimed he was the victim of discrimination for being allocated shifts on the Lord's day 'In his view, this meant that he had to sit for hours 'watching paint dry',' the tribunal heard. A text from Mr Jones to Mr McElevey in February 2022 said 'Erich, not a single player was checked in throughout your whole shift on Sunday … please stop bringing in computers and doing other things other than the receptionist duties'. Mr McElevey told the tribunal that he was again stopped from reading the Bible at work on Sundays from May 2022. The tribunal heard: 'Under cross examination, (Mr McElevey) expanded his case on not being allowed to read the Bible on Sundays by stating that Mr Jones had ripped up his theological notes (for his theological studies to be a vicar).' Mr Jones told the tribunal that he would 'never have ripped up an employee's notes because this would have damaged his reputation and been out of character', and in any case it would have been caught on CCTV. He added that it was the centre's policy that no employee could read a book or use the internet for personal purposes at work. Mr McElevey also alleged that Mr Jones changed his working hours so that he worked more on Sundays. He alleged 'from November 2022 onwards Mr Jones changed his working hours so that he worked less during the weekday evenings and more on weekends including Sundays', adding that it was 'related to religion'. He also alleged that he was subjected to a disciplinary process because he tried to help customers, 'which is part of his living his Christian values'. The tribunal heard he allowed customers to 'go through to the courts without paying' and allowed members to cancel on the day of a booking and rebook without paying the cancellation fee. Mr McElevey told the tribunal: 'I was expected to exert a hostile attitude to the players. 'The centre's purpose was to promote the sport. I was told constantly not to do things. 'I got to the point where I was just trying to live out my faith and love my neighbour as myself.' The badminton centre said his behaviour caused a 'loss to the business', and held a disciplinary hearing in early 2023 about this and other issues which Mr McElevey had previously received a final written warning for. He resigned in February that year following the hearing. Employment Judge Elizabeth Coll found it was not 'plausible' that Mr Jones had ripped up Mr McElevey's study notes and said the sports centre had 'reasonable and proper cause for forbidding (Mr McElevey) from reading nonwork material at work and for prohibiting the use of the internet and mobile telephones for personal purposes.' EJ Coll said Mr McElevey 'worked Sundays before November 2022'. She noted: 'Mr Jones said under cross examination that he offered up additional shifts 'across the board' and (Mr McElevey) accepted numerous weekend shifts, possibly 60-70 over a six-year period. 'A number of the text exchanges showed that (Mr McElevey) had no issue with working on Sundays and in fact wanted to.' EJ Coll continued: 'The Tribunal concluded that the disciplinary process was not taken out for trying to help customers but for a deliberate refusal to follow the I.T. procedures' to record when members and non-members had arrived. 'This resulted in inaccurate recording of monies due', the judge added. 'The Tribunal also note that (Mr McElevey) did not relate his actions to any Christian beliefs, during the disciplinary hearing.' All his other claims were dismissed. Mr McElevey declined to comment on the case when contacted by the Mail.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. 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