Are political and religious beliefs the same thing?

In the increasingly complex area of Employment Law, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has recently had to consider whether someone's political beliefs should be given the same weight as religious beliefs.

Mr Henderson, a Regional Organiser of the General Municipal Boilermakers (GMB) Trade Union was dismissed from his employment on 7 December 2014. The Judgment of the first instance tribunal held that his dismissal had been fair due to gross misconduct but that he had suffered direct discrimination and harassment due to his left wing democratic socialist beliefs. As a result of this Judgment he was awarded compensation for injury to his feelings. Both parties appealed this decision.

The employer argued that Mr Henderson had not been dismissed because of his political beliefs and that he had not been harassed.

It has long been accepted that religious beliefs under The Equality Act 2010 should fall into a protected category. However, categorising a potentially more nebulous political or philosophical belief and basing a claim of direct discrimination or harassment upon such beliefs could be difficult.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal rejected any suggestion that philosophical belief should be given less protection than religious belief.

This decision highlights the difficulty of deciding how to proceed with a claim, but it is clear that philosophical belief attracts a similar level of protection to religious beliefs.

Link to the case http://www.employmentcasesupdate.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed26331

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