Employment—Discrimination—Philosophical belief

Employment Appeal Tribunal, Burton J, 3 November 2009
A belief in man-made climate change is capable of amounting to a “philosophical belief” for the purposes of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1660), (EER 2003).
John Bowers QC (instructed by Grange Wintringham) for the employee. Dinah Rose QC and Ivan Hare (instructed by Bindmans LLP) for the employer.

The employee worked for the employer until July 1998 when, according to the employer, he was dismissed on the ground of redundancy. The employee brought a complaint before an employment tribunal, contending that he had been unfairly dismissed and subjected to discrimination contrary to EER 2003, due to his asserted philosophical belief about climate change and the environment.

Paragraph 3 of the Regulations provided “(1) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person (“A”) discriminates against another person (“B”) if … (a) on the grounds of the religion or belief of B … A treats B less favourably than he treats or would treat