Going green or going to court
February 8, 2008
I’ve just read an article about discrimination and environmental policies which I’m really not sure what to make of. The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations came into force in 2003. This made it unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly against an employee on the grounds of their “religion, religious belief or similar philosophical belief”. This was tested recently in Harris v NKL Automotive Ltd and Matrix Consultancy Ltd, where it was conceded that Rastafarianism was a religious belief within the regulations. Fair enough.
Now, according to this article (People Management Magazine 7th Feb 2008), it is possible that employees could make a discrimination claim in the future if they were prevented from following their environmental beliefs! This is because the Equality Act 2006 removed the requirement for the “philosophical” belief to be similar to a religious belief; it just has to be a strongly held belief that affects an employee’s lifestyle. So for example, an employee could request that the company only use recycled paper, or provides recycling facilities, and a refusal could amount to indirect discrimination in the same way that refusal to allow an employee time off to attend a religious festival could do.
Of course, “discrimination” could be justified if it was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, however this would probably relate to costs, and it is fairly easy to achieve a more green operation in many establishments, before the costs start to become unreasonable. There are loads of ways to do this, some of which are:
- Recycling
- Using recycled and less environmentally damaging materials
- Policies to encourage less wastage of resources (don’t print everything, turn off PCs etc
- Setting printers / photocopiers to double sided
- Implementing a travel policy that promotes the most environmentally friendly modes of transport
- Reducing the number of external meetings or planning them close together to reduce the need to travel
- Incentives for car sharing or using public transport
- Flexible working to reduce traffic around rush hour times
Because of the obvious benefits of workplaces becoming more environmentally friendly, part of me welcomes the possibility of discrimination law relating to environmental beliefs, as it might make many employers reduce their carbon footprint just to avoid a claim. Another part of me thinks that this is a ridiculous addition to the wrong part of the law; when the government will be introducing more and more environmental legislation anyway in the coming years. I just don’t see being environmentally friendly as a philosophical belief, even though clearly for many people it is a major contributing factor in their lifestyle. There has been no case law on this issue yet, and I wouldn’t want to be on the tribunal panel of the first case that’s brought forward; their decision will shape the way “green” people are regarded within UK organisations going forward. For the time being we’ll have to watch this (polluted) space.
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