An employee's belief that public service broadcasting has the higher purpose of "promoting cultural interchange and social cohesion" is a philosophical belief protected by discrimination law, according to a first instance tribunal judgment.
The tribunal also doubted the correctness of another first instance decision, Kelly v Unison, that political beliefs are not protected, a decision which apparently is being appealed.
Many commentators have suggested that this decision moves too far away from the original intention of the legislation to protect types of belief analogous to religious beliefs. Of course the employee still has to show that their belief was the reason for less favourable treatment. (Maistry v BBC, ET)
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