In Pendleton v Derbyshire County Council and the Governing Body of Glebe Junior School the EAT has held that a teacher suffered indirect religious discrimination when she was dismissed for standing by her husband, the headteacher of another school, after he was convicted of downloading indecent images of children and voyeurism.  Mrs Pendleton was a practising Anglican Christian and made her decision in light of her marriage vows.

The EAT held that forcing an employee to choose between their partner and her career gave rise to a particular disadvantage for individuals with a religious belief in the sanctity of marriage vows.

Although it had been open to the school to defend the claim by producing evidence to show that the decision to dismiss Mrs Pendleton was justified, no such evidence had been put before the Tribunal.