Former UKIP councillor Colette Fairbanks (Image: NC)
Supporting is not a belief protected from workplace discrimination, an employment tribunal has ruled.
Former Colette Fairbanks lost her claim that she was “bullied and harassed” by the charity she worked at because she supported the UK’s departure from the EU.
Ms Fairbanks was sacked from her job at drug and alcohol rehabilitation charity Change Grow Live after sharing “offensive” posts about immigrants on social media.
She argued that her political views were philosophical beliefs protected by the Equality Act.
But the tribunal found that wanting to leave the EU is an opinion rather than a philosophical belief that falls under equality laws
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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.
“Despite some probing, both by the tribunal and in cross-examination, no coherent belief or set of beliefs was forthcoming.
“On balance, the tribunal found that the claimant had genuinely held opinions and views but she did not convince the tribunal that she had any underlying philosophical belief.”
The hearing in Manchester heard that a colleague told Ms Fairbank’s manager in February 2023 that she was a councillor for Ukip between 2017 and 2019.
Mr Fairbanks claimed she was subsequently “bullied and harassed” at the job in Fleetwood, Lancashire.
She was sacked in July 2023 because of “offensive” posts she shared on Twitter, although she denied that one of the accounts they came from belonged to her.
The tribunal found that Ms Fairbanks had “genuinely held opinions and views” but she did not convince the tribunal she had “any underlying philosophical belief”.