Council worker sacked for failing to use 'acceptable pronouns' on email signature instead putting 'AdultHumanMale'
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A council worker has been ordered to pay £12,000 in legal costs after he lost an employment tribunal over his dismissal for refusing to use conventional pronouns in his email signature.
ICT project officer at East Riding of Yorkshire Council Jim Orwin was sacked in 2022 after he added "XYchromosomeGuy/AdultHumanMale" to his emails instead of standard pronouns like "he/him".
He subsequently took the council to tribunal for religion or belief discrimination and unfair dismissal.
While the tribunal accepted his gender-critical beliefs as protected under the Equality Act 2010, it dismissed his claims and deemed them vexatious.
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Chief Executive encouraged staff to detail their preferred pronouns in their email signature
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The situation began when East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Chief Executive Caroline Lacey sent an email to all staff in April 2022, encouraging them to "consider adding pronouns to your email".
Staff were informed this was an "individual choice" and were provided with explanatory resources about pronoun usage.
The policy aimed to "promote inclusion of people who identify their gender in a way that is not necessarily consistent with their biological sex", according to tribunal documents.
Orwin quickly concluded the policy was meant to "facilitate self-identification" and responded by adding "XYchromosomeGuy/AdultHumanMale" to his signature.
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When challenged, he refused to remove the signature, saying: "Not adding a pronoun would be accepting this garbage and is not an option I can choose."
The tribunal heard that Orwin believed the only way to challenge the policy was to "adopt deliberately provocative pronouns".
Employment Judge Ian Miller concluded that Orwin had not been a victim of discrimination, saying: "None of the treatment he experienced was because of his beliefs (or expression of beliefs).
"The judge found that while Mr Orwin's gender-critical beliefs constituted a protected "philosophical belief", his email footer was designed to provoke.
"The real reason that [Mr Orwin] decided to add 'XY-chromosome-guy/adult-human-male' was in protest."
The tribunal also dismissed his unfair dismissal claim, ruling the council's actions were "well within the band of reasonable responses of a reasonable employer".
In awarding costs, the judge determined Orwin pursued the claim "solely" because he objected to gender self-identification and the council's policy supporting it (Stock)
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In awarding costs, the judge determined Orwin pursued the claim "solely" because he objected to gender self-identification and the council's policy supporting it.
The judge did note that the council's implementation of the pronouns policy was "poorly thought through and badly executed".
Criticising the cost, Orwin said: "I think in the current climate, most of the British public will see this costs order judgment as yet another example of a two-tier judiciary, and somewhat inconsistent with the Employment Tribunal's duty of political impartiality."
He pointed out that between July 2023 and May 2023, four different employment judges handled his case and none had suggested his claim was vexatious.
The Hull resident noted the first mention of his claim being potentially vexatious came in the council's recent costs application.
Now, Orwin has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the £12,000 required to pay the council's costs.
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