Voodooism ‘is a protected religious belief'
Voodooism is a protected religious belief, an employment tribunal has ruled for the first time.
The religion has 'clear teachings' and tries to 'explain mankind's place in the universe' with its concepts of spirits and divinity, a panel said.
As a result, it is 'more than just an opinion' and should be treated as a protected belief under workplace equality laws, meaning its followers cannot be discriminated against, the tribunal added.
However, it found that a belief solely in voodoo dolls would not constitute a protected religious belief because they are not an 'authentic element' of voodoo and instead come from misrepresentation in popular culture.
Voodoo is practised mainly in the Caribbean and the southern US, and is based on African traditions involving magic and communication with spirits and dead people.
The tribunal's ruling came in the case of a council worker who sued Walsall metropolitan borough council for racial and religious harassment after a colleague said: 'I'm like a voodoo doll with needles in her eyes.'
Carl Wint argued that as a Christian he was offended by the mention of the other religion, which is typically associated with spirits, and that the comment was made because he has Jamaican heritage.
However, he lost his case after the panel found it was a 'poorly judged throwaway comment' that was not directed at him.
The Birmingham tribunal heard that Mr Wint began working as a support officer at Rivers House, a home for vulnerable young people, in Walsall in April 2022.
In June 2023, he did not show up for a shift because of a rota mix-up, and his colleague, Mandy Shone, had to fill in for him.
A few weeks later, they were discussing the missed shift and Miss Shone, who is white, said: 'I'm like a voodoo doll with needles in her eyes.'
She told the tribunal this was a reference to how exhausted she had been on the night she covered the shift, comparing herself to a voodoo doll with pins keeping her eyes open.
Miss Shone added that she would have made the same comment in front of a white colleague.
Mr Wint claimed that Miss Shone had said she was going to send him a voodoo doll with pins in, directing the comment at him, but Employment Judge Kate Edmonds found he was 'mistaken'.
The tribunal found he did not raise any concerns immediately after about the 'voodoo doll' comment, and other staff remembered the atmosphere as 'light-hearted'.
A few days later, he did raise the issue with his line manager, who had heard the comment.
In the interim, he had discussed the incident with his daughter, who the tribunal found had been 'shocked and appalled' by the comment and linked it to race, leading Mr Wint to reflect further.
He then raised a grievance with the council, but was told there was no evidence to support his claims.
To determine whether Mr Wint had been harassed, the tribunal had to first determine if voodoo is a protected belief, which has never been tested before.
Employment Judge Edmonds concluded that the practice does constitute a religion, despite not having a central text, because there are 'clear teachings' followers should live by.
She said: 'We have considered first of all whether voodoo/voodooism would qualify as a religion or belief under the Equality Act 2010.
'We have not been able to find any authority on the point, and neither party was able to point us to any.
'We conclude that this is a spiritual belief system which is held by a group of adherents (and on a worldwide basis we note that there are a large number of people who follow vodou/voodoo, some openly and some less so).
'It explains mankind's place in the universe and relationship with the infinite by reference to its divinity and spirits.
'Whilst there is no clear definition of what is good and what is evil set out centrally in any code or text, there is clear teaching that adherents should live their lives in conformity with the iwa and what they represent.'
Iwa is the name given to spirits in Haitian voodoo, and followers believe that each person is connected to a specific iwa who informs their personality.
However, in Mr Wint's case, because the comment was not directed at him and merely 'thoughtless', it did not constitute harassment, but it was 'ill advised' of Miss Shone to bring up voodoo.
'Voodoo is a sensitive subject for some and therefore it was perhaps ill advised for Miss Shone to refer to it in the workplace,' a tribunal report said.
'Equally however, we must not trivialise the concept of harassment and not every adverse comment which relates to race and/or religion or belief will amount to harassment.
'A reasonable person would have understood that people are not perfect and sometimes use language thoughtlessly.
'We consider that, if [Mr Wint] had heard the comment correctly, he should have appreciated that it was not directed at him and was instead a poorly judged throwaway comment.
'We conclude that the conduct did not have the effect of harassing him.'
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