Green beliefs get legal protection in the UK....
This is very dangerous...
Environmental beliefs are worthy of the same protection as religion in matters of workplace discrimination, a judge has ruled in Britain.
The landmark decision, which upheld a previous employment tribunal judgment, means that workers who are victimized because of their green beliefs may have the right to bring compensation claims against their employer.
"If a person can establish that he holds a philosophical belief which is based on science, as opposed, for example, to religion, then there is no reason to disqualify it from protection," Mr. Justice Michael Burton, who presided over the appeal, said in his Oct. 7 decision.
The preliminary ruling is but one piece of a larger case that pits Tim Nicholson, a 42-year-old senior executive and environmentalist, against his former employer, Grainger PLC, Britain's largest residential landlord. Nonetheless, the precedent-setting decision marks a significant change in how employment and discrimination laws can be interpreted in the United Kingdom.
"It's quite a big sea change in terms of what amounts to unlawful discrimination in the U.K.," said Mr. Nicholson's lawyer, Shah Qureshi, of Bindmans LLP.
Mr. Nicholson, who told the appeal tribunal that he has ecorenovated his home, buys local produce, and composts his waste, says he was dismissed as the company's head of sustainability in July 2008 because of his environmental beliefs-- not because he was made redundant, as is maintained by Grainger.
Mr. Nicholson said that he had grown increasingly at odds with the company's senior executives, whom he said drove gas-guzzling cars and did little to execute the company's sustainability policies. Mr. Nicholas said Grainger's senior executives repeatedly "showed contempt" for the need to cut carbon emissions, and said the chief executive once flew an employee to Ireland to deliver the BlackBerry he had left behind in London.
In order for Mr. Nicholson's claim to move forward under the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations, he had to prove that his environmental views were more than just opinions and in fact constituted philosophical beliefs.
His counsel argued that Mr. Nicholson's philosophical belief is that "mankind is heading towards catastrophic climate change and therefore we are all under a moral duty to lead our lives in a manner which mitigates or avoids this catastrophe for the benefit of future generations, and to persuade others to do the same."
Meantime, John Bowers, who represented Grainger during the appeal, argued that Mr. Nicholson's views should not be considered a philosophical belief because they are based on fact and science.
posted by GayandRight @ 9:18 AM
2 Comments:
What the lawyers are really hoping for in this manœuvre is to prevent any Greenie from being held legally liable for their actions. It's now a question of religious faith, after all.
If - and this is a big if - there are any politicians with a backbone, then these 5 simple words could come back to haunt the Greens: separation of church and state.
I guess as long as they legally define the specific "philosophical beliefs" that would fall under the protection of the law ... I mean, this would work both ways.
You couldn't fire someone who believed there was a conspiracy to promote environmentalism purely for political reasons rather than as scientific fact.
What if you were philosophically predisposed to carry a firearm?
On the other hand, what if you had the philosophical belief you were an alien? Or ... any of a million crackpot ideas that idiots force upon others?
"No, I didn't do my job or I am no longer needed, but Xenu told me I must continue to work here, and he told me to publicly and relentlessly scold my superiors for not adhering to the philosophy of the Great Xenu."
Now, you can't fire him?
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