A former IT director for the charity Turning Point is seeking a six-figure payout after winning a religious and racial bias case against the charity yesterday.

An employment tribunal heard that Ibukun Adebayo was branded “looney tunes” by her former boss David Hoare, the deputy chief executive of the charity, and dismissed from her job in August 2013.

The panel heard that Adebayo discovered emails between Hoare and chief executive Lord Victor Adebowale that spoke of her involvvement in a suggested sex act and poked fun of her religious beliefs.

The tribunal ruled that a "reasonable" employer would have "given genuine and serious consideration" to firing Hoare. 

"By any token, the [sex act] remark was highly inappropriate, particularly from the second most senior paid officer in a large organisation," it said.

"Any organisation with the degree of commitment to equal opportunities that Turning Point claims to have would have removed Mr Hoare from being the sponsor of Turning Point's equal opportunities policies or at the very least given serious consideration to doing so."

After discovering the emails in April 2013, Adebayo complained about Hoare but was sacked for hacking into the emails.

The tribunal panel said her sacking was "a disproportionate response" when Mr Hoare kept his job.

The tribunal said: "A reasonable employer would not show such a degree of double standards in how two employees who have committed gross misconduct are treated."

Adebayo, a 48-year-old mother of five, is now seeking £466,815 compensation for lost earnings or the return of her former job.

Her lawyer Lawrence Davies, of law firm Equal Justice, has called for the sacking of her formed bosses.

“Lord Adebowale's failure to protect and his victimisation of our client is entirely incompatible with his position as chief executive of a leading social care charity,” said Davies.

“He should resign. They both should. The Charity Commissioners must act on this if Turning Point does not.”

The hearing will resume in September.

A statement by Turning Point this morning said the charity was "party to an ongoing legal process". 

"We have appealed the judgment and it is currently with the Employment Appeal Tribunal, we therefore are respecting that process and do not intend to comment further whilst the proceedings are ongoing”, a spokeswoman told Civil Society News.