The Times - UK (2020-10-14)

18 1GM Wednesday October 14 2020 | the times

News

An academic claims that he was forced

out of the Oxford Centre for Islamic

Studies because he was “not Muslim

enough, straight enough or British

enough”, an employment tribunal has

been told.

Kevin Fogg, 37, a former research

fellow at the centre, has begun tribunal

proceedings on the grounds of unfair

dismissal, age discrimination and

indirect discrimination due to sexual

orientation. He claims that he was

sacked because his gay relationship up-

set the establishment’s Saudi backers.

Dr Fogg, an Islamic studies expert,

had been at Yale University. He was

employed at the centre, on a five-year

contract, until September 2018. The tri-

bunal has been told that the American

Claims that employers have discrimi-

nated against gay, lesbian and trans-

gender workers have more than

doubled over the past five years.

Sexual orientation cases have risen

from 188 in 2015 to 499 last year,

according to analysis of data from more

than 120,000 employment tribunal

claims. The figures, revealed after a

freedom of information request, show

Islamic studies fellow sacked

‘for being bisexual American’

Fariha Karim is bisexual and was in a gay partnership
while working at the centre, a “recog-
nised independent centre of the Uni-
versity of Oxford”.
He wrote to his mother in December
2016 after being told that his contract
would be extended by a year instead of
the five-year minimum he had expect-
ed. He said: “I am feeling pretty sour
about the idea that I have been held
back in this process because I am not
Muslim enough, straight enough, or
British enough (unlike the previous fel-
low, who sailed through the process on
fewer publications and less teaching).”
His claims were disclosed in The
Times last week. He condemned
Islamophobes yesterday who appeared
to have weighed in on the case at the
start of the tribunal. “I want to recog-
nise that this is a case which brings up

very sensitive issues,” he said. “It’s

important for me to emphasise that it is

not a case against Islam... This is a case

which I’ve brought very specifically

because my former employer didn’t

comply with UK employment law, as I

understand it in the UK. I want to

condemn Islamophobia in all of its

forms.”

Dr Fogg said that discrimination on

the grounds of sexual discrimination

was different to other protected charac-

teristics such as “age, race or national

origin” because these “wouldn’t be a

reason to be jailed in the countries of

my research”.

The centre, under Farhan Nizami,

the director, has said that it “completely

rejects Dr Fogg’s wild allegations of

discrimination, which have no basis in

fact”. The case continues.

Claims of LGBT bias double in five years

significant rises across most areas.

Claims based on disability increased

over the period from 3,470 to nearly

8,100 while allegations of discrimina-

tion on the grounds of religion and be-

lief more than doubled.

Race discrimination claims nearly

doubled as did the number of women

bringing actions for pregnancy-related

claims. Sex discrimination cases rose by

a modest 15 per cent, from 5,380 to

about 6,190. Age discrimination was

one area where claims fell — by more

than 80 per cent to about 2,400 cases.

Campaigners claimed the figures

showed alleged victims were feeling

more confident about bringing legal

action. Legal experts pointed out that a

significant reason for the overall rise

was a Supreme Court ruling in 2017 that

the fee structure in the tribunals was

unlawful. The charges of up to £1,

had led to a 70 per cent drop in the num-

ber of tribunals in England and Wales.

Jonathan Ames Legal Editor

I

t was perhaps, in

the words of one

observer, “the

greatest living

thing to grace a

Yorkshire cricket

pitch since Geoff

Boycott”.

A hoopoe — a bird

mainly native to

Africa and Asia —

that had flown farther

north than normal

on its annual

migration drew 50

photographers to

Collingham & Linton

Cricket Club, West

Yorkshire, on Sunday

(Ben Webster writes).

About 100 of the birds,

which have long,

pinkish-brown crests,

turn up each year in

Britain, mainly on the

south coast, but have

been reported as far

north as Shetland.

Lynnette Cammidge,

one of those who

photographed the bird,

told The York Press:

“It wandered around

oblivious that people

were there and they

had gone especially to

see it. I heard one

photographer say he’d

come from Sheffield. I

was really surprised by

Visitor to

pitch hits

twitchers

for six

The hoopoe at Collingham & Linton Cricket Club in