A British environmentalist who claims he lost his job because of his green views was granted permission Tuesday to take his former employer to a tribunal, his lawyer said.
Tim Nicholson claims he was unfairly dismissed from Grainger plc, Britain's biggest residential landlord, because of what he described as his "philosophical belief about climate change and the environment".
Grainger had challenged the basis for his case, arguing that green views are not the same as religious or philosophical beliefs and therefore not protected as such, but an appeal judge on Tuesday ruled in Nicholson's favour.
"Essentially what the judgment says is that a belief in man-made climate change and the alleged resulting moral imperative is capable of being a philosophical belief, and is therefore protected by the 2003 religion or belief regulations," said Nicholson's lawyer, Shah Qureshi.
In a previous hearing, Nicholson, 42, accused Grainger chief executive Rupert Dickinson of showing "contempt" for his concerns that the world is facing catastrophic climate change.
He was selected for redundancy and claims this was because of views that impact his whole lifestyle, including by stopping him flying.
Grainger corporate affairs director Dave Butler accepted the decision to allow Nicholson's case to be heard in an employment tribunal, but insisted he had not been laid off for his views.
"Grainger absolutely maintains, as it has done from the very outset of these proceedings, that Mr. Nicholson's redundancy was driven solely by the operational needs of the company during a period of extraordinary market turbulence," he said.
He added: "Grainger rejects outright any suggestion that there was any other motivation relating to Mr Nicholson's beliefs or otherwise."
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