Climate change, spiritualism and discrimination law

Picture: Woodford House and Lindisfarne students acting as ghosts in their production of Fiddler on the Roof.

Two recent UK decisions have found that belief in man-made climate change, and belief in using psychics to contact the souls of the dead, are covered by discrimination law, so that anyone dismissed or detrimentally treated as a result will have a legal claim.

In the first case, a Mr T Nicholson worked for Grainger plc, a property and investment company. He said his belief in man-made climate change is so strong that he no longer travels by plane and he eco-renovated his house (among other life changes). Mr Nicholson's employment was terminated for redundancy but according to this BBC report, he claimed it was really because of his belief about climate change.

UK law prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religious or philosophical belief. In this case, the issue was whether belief in climate change could qualify as a philosophical belief, and in particular whether the belief could be political or based on science. The court said that it could be.

On that basis, a belief in man-made climate change qualified as a belief protected by law. There will be a subsequent hearing on whether Mr Nicholson genuinely did have the belief he asserted, and whether he was made redundant because of that belief.

A few days later, according to this article in The Times, the same court said that a police trainer's view that psychics should be used to solve crimes was a religious or philosophical belief (and therefore also protected by the legislation prohibiting discrimination). Alan Power said he was forced out of his job because he is a spiritualist who believes that the souls of the dead can be contacted through mediums.

The article states that modern spiritualism was brought to Britain from America in the late 19th century, and there are now more than 300 spiritualist churches in the UK. According to the 2001 census, spiritualism is the eighth largest faith group in Britain, with 32,000 adherents.

In New Zealand, the discrimination legislation is worded differently but does cover religious belief and political opinion. It is likely that the police trainer's belief in spiritualism and the ability of psychics to contact the dead would be considered a religious belief, but whether a belief in man-made climate change would qualify as a political opinion is debatable.

There seems to be plenty of people who sit firmly on opposite sides of that particular fence, and it's easy to imagine a case where someone who strongly believes one way or the other could be subjected to some sort of detrimental treatment.

Greg Cain

 

Greg Cain is an employment lawyer at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts.

 

Picture: Woodford House and Lindisfarne students acting as ghosts in their production of Fiddler on the Roof.