In the recent case of Gray v Mulberry Company (Design) Ltd, the Court of Appeal has dismissed an employee's claim that her belief in "the statutory human or moral right to own the copyright and moral rights of her own creative works and output” was a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010.
The Claimant was dismissed following her refusal to sign a confidentiality agreement which would have given her employer intellectual property rights over her creations. Following her dismissal, the Claimant brought claims for direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. The Claimant accepted that she held this belief privately and had not communicated this to her employer.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (with which the Court agreed) found that the belief did not meet the required level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance to amount to a philosophical belief. Further, there was no causal link between the belief and her refusal to sign as her refusal arose from her concern that this would impact her own film-making interests outside of her employment. Her claim of indirect discrimination would also have failed as she was unable to show that others shared her belief and were placed at a disadvantage (see our previous blog on this here).
This case shows that whilst ‘philosophical belief’ has been interpreted broadly, there are limits to its application. The Tribunal in this case, focussed on the fact that the Claimant had not done anything to express her belief which provides useful guidance to employers.
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