Zelda de Groen, 24, claims she was told co-habiting or having children outside of marriage would ‘not be tolerated’ at her workplace.
A Jewish nursery has been accused of sacking an unmarried teacher after parents complained she was living with her boyfriend.
Zelda de Groen, 24, claims she was told co-habiting or having children outside of marriage would ‘not be tolerated’ at her workplace.
She said managers subjected her to a ‘humiliating’ hour-long interview in which they said it was time for her to tie the knot. The nursery teacher said she was left ‘super-mortified’ when asked why she had not yet married.
Miss de Groen – who has since married her boyfriend – is now suing her former employers for more than £20,600 in compensation. She accuses the owners of the Gan Menachem Nursery in Hendon, North London, of religious and sexual discrimination.
The nursery, which caters for children aged under eight, was described as ‘ultra-orthodox’ during a hearing at Watford Employment Tribunal in Hertfordshire. Miss de Groen grew up in a strict Jewish family in Stamford Hill, north-east London, but left ‘after many years of significant discontent’.
After spending three years in Israel she got a temporary job at Gan Menachem Nursery in 2012 through her mother’s friendship with the headteacher. In April 2016, by which time she was a permanent member of staff, she moved in with her boyfriend Oz Waknin, a business consultant, in Pimlico, central London.
The following month, the couple were invited to a religious festival barbecue attended by a number of parents of nursery children and owner Mendy Freundlich. Miss de Groen said she told Mr Freundlich she was living with her boyfriend and did not recall ‘any negative reaction to my comment from anyone at the barbecue’.
Four weeks later she was taken out of her class and interviewed for an hour by headteacher Miriam Lieberman and nursery manager Dina Toron about her personal circumstances.
Miss de Groen said they made ‘a continuous personal attack on my life choices’, particularly her decision to live with her partner. She described their tone as ‘threatening’ and added: ‘They told me it is not allowed to live with another person prior to marriage and that to do so is against what people in our workplace should do.
‘I was told that having kids outside of marriage is wrong and will not be tolerated. Their comments, and the personal nature of the meeting, were humiliating.’
‘Their comments were humiliating’: Miss de Groen said they made ‘a continuous personal attack on my life choices’, particularly her decision to live with her partner
She claimed they told her she should be married by her age – she was 23 at the time – and asked: ‘Twenty-three is a big number. Don’t you want to get married? Why not? Do you have a problem with it?’
Two days after the meeting she asked both women for an apology but instead received a letter notifying her of disciplinary proceedings.
It said she had ‘openly disclosed’ the fact she was living with her boyfriend at the barbecue, where not only the owner of the nursery was present ‘but parents of children in your care also heard the conversation’.
She was accused of acting in a way that contravened the nursery’s culture, ethos and religious beliefs. It was also claimed she had damaged the nursery’s reputation, to the potential ‘financial detriment of the nursery and loss of income’. She was sacked a month later for bringing the nursery into disrepute.
The tribunal heard Miss de Groen knew she had to comply with the ‘nursery’s ultra-orthodox teaching but the teacher said: ‘I felt I was being punished in my professional life for a private issue that was entirely separate to my work for the nursery.’
The Gan Menachem Nursery denies discrimination and says it acted on the recommendation of its human resources company. The case continues.
The Gan Menachem Nursery (above) denies discrimination and says it acted on the recommendation of its human resources company. The case continues