Employment law insights
Is believing that unreformed Islam is ‘problematic’ a protected belief?
Patrick Lee was an Actuary regulated by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), who posted a large number of tweets stating that traditional Islamic beliefs were not compatible with western values. After an investigation and disciplinary hearing, the IFoA banned him from the profession for two years and fined him.
Mr Lee brought an employment tribunal claim, asserting that his belief that “unreformed Islam is problematic for western liberal democracies” was a protected belief for the purposes of the Equality Act.
This issue was considered at a preliminary hearing, and the Employment Tribunal found that found that Mr Lee’s belief was protected under the Equality Act 2010. However, the judgment made clear that the issue of whether Mr Lee’s tweets were a manifestation of his belief or were inappropriate or otherwise separable from his belief would need to be considered at the final hearing of the case.
As we have seen with the plethora of recent cases dealing with gender-critical views, Employment Tribunals are being asked to determine whether an increasingly broad range of philosophical opinions constitute protected beliefs. Employers also need to be increasingly conscious of whether their employees’ viewpoints provide them with statutory protection, even if those beliefs may be offensive to other employees.