Supporting Brexit is not a belief protected from workplace discrimination, an employment tribunal has ruled.
Wanting to leave the EU is an opinion rather than a philosophical belief that falls under equality laws, a judge has said.
As a result, employees who voted in favour of Brexit can’t claim discrimination on that basis.
Colette Fairbanks, a former Ukip councillor, claimed she was “bullied and harassed” by the charity she worked at over her political views.
Ms Fairbanks was sacked from her job at Change Grow Live, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation charity, after sharing “offensive” posts about immigrants on social media.
The former councillor took the charity to a tribunal, arguing she had philosophical beliefs protected by the Equality Act.
These beliefs included opposition to illegal migration, that the UK should be outside of the EU and a desire to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, the tribunal found that these are not beliefs which are protected by the Equality Act, but rather a “strongly held opinion”.
Ms Fairbanks started working for Change Grow Live on October 10 2022.
In an interview for the job, she said she had been a local councillor, but did not mention this was for Ukip in Wyre, Lancashire between about 2017 and 2019.
A colleague relayed the details to her manager around February 2023 and Ms Fairbanks claimed that she was “bullied and harassed” from this point onwards.
In July 2023, she was sacked from the job in Fleetwood, Lancashire because of “offensive” posts she shared on Twitter, though she denied that one of the accounts they came from belonged to her.
The comments on Twitter “referred to ‘fake asylum seekers’ and complained that immigrants received priority for housing and public services”.
Ms Fairbanks made a claim for discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief after she was sacked. Only philosophical beliefs are protected by the Equality Act.
The tribunal found that “there were social media posts which were said to have [been] made by the claimant and which no doubt would be found offensive by many”.
Dismissing her claim, employment judge Paul Jumble said: “There has to be a distinction between a philosophical belief and a strongly held opinion.
“If, for example, ‘wanting to leave the EU’ was held to be a philosophical belief then more than half the British electorate would have a belief that fell within [equality laws], which could not be the intention of the legislation.”
The tribunal, held in Manchester, found that Ms Fairbanks had “genuinely held opinions and views” but she did not convince the tribunal she had “any underlying philosophical belief”.