In McClung v Doosan Babcock an Employment Tribunal decided that supporting a football club cannot be a protected religious or philosophical belief.
In this article, Chris Dobbs breaks down the reason for this decision, and provides advice for employers when tackling similar issues.
McClung v Doosan Babcock
Mr McClung has supported Rangers football club for decades. He joined Doosan Babcock as a subcontractor in January 2019, but they stopped using him only six months later.
He then proceeded to make claims to the employment tribunal for automatic unfair dismissal and discrimination based on his ‘belief’ in supporting the football club, arguing that he had been dismissed due to his manager being a Celtic fan (Rangers’ bitter rivals).
Did his support constitute a protected belief?
He asserted that his support for Rangers was so strong, a ‘way of life’, that it should be protected as a belief. He used the analogy of Christians going to church with reference to him attending Rangers matches every weekend.
The employment tribunal did not agree with Mr McClung. They applied the five criteria, set down in the case of Grainger Plc v Nicholson¸ to decide if the support of Rangers was a protected belief.
What is a protected belief?
The criteria set out in this case are as follows:
- The belief must be genuinely held;
- It must be a belief and not an opinion or viewpoint based on the present state of information available;
- It must be a belief as to a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behaviour;
- It must attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance; and
- It must be worthy of respect in a democratic society, be not incompatible with human dignity and not conflict with the fundamental rights of others.
The employment tribunal decided that Mr McClung met the first criteria in that he genuinely held the belief.
However, he failed on the others, the tribunal saying that it was akin to supporting a political party and lacked the level of cogency, seriousness and importance required to be protected.
It was a ‘lifestyle choice’ and not weighty enough to be the same as, for example, a religion. His claims therefore failed.
A specialist Employment Solicitor’s view
Chris Dobbs said: “Some people may be surprised by the decision, given the religious background to many supporters of Rangers and Celtic (Protestant and Catholic respectively).
However, the employment tribunal, correctly in my opinion, separated this out from the general support of the football club and decided this could not be a protected belief.
There have been many recent cases, relating to gender issues and eating habits, that have come down on the side of being a protected belief, but this case demonstrates there are limits.
The decision will be welcomed by employers, albeit Mr McClung may appeal as it was a case at first instance.”
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