Lawyer fired for not working on Pesach gets £26k
A JEWISH lawyer who was sacked after not coming to work on Pesach is to receive more than £26,000 in compensation, saying he was “stabbed in the back” by colleagues.
According to a court judgment published last month, Philip Bialick, who is Orthodox, was dismissed by a “workplace friend and colleague” when he said he was taking his pre-booked holiday following a bout of Covid.
Mr Bialick joined NNE Law Limited as a litigation executive in January 2020 and booked time off in April the following month.
Then the UK entered into its first lockdown on 23 March.
His employer insisted he come to work the following morning arguing that “since the courts are not closed… our line of work is considered essential”. But Mr Bialick fell ill two days later, on 26 March, and was forced to self-isolate at home per advice from the NHS.
His isolation period was set to end on 8 April — at which point he expected to take his holiday. But his employer insisted he return to work on 9 April, which was the second day of Pesach. Mr Bialick
I work for two months then they stab me in the back over my religion
replied in an email he had booked time off for religious reasons.
The next day, his firm said it was “left with no alternative but to end your employment with NNE Law Ltd”.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Bialick said he had been friends with his employers for 12 years and described the situation as “heartbreaking”.
He added: “I met them through other law firms, through separate firms and at first I did not know the others. They asked me to work for them which I did for two months. Then they stab me in the back over my religion. They were both Muslim and I was Jewish and we embraced that.” Speaking at the employment tribunal in Manchester, Judge Leach said: “We accept that the dismissal had a devastating impact on him and that he was affected mentally and emotionally.
“The claimant was dismissed by Mr Nazokkar, who… in the past had been a workplace friend and colleague of the claimant.”