Can I bring a claim for political discrimination?
The answer varies depending on where you live in the UK.
- In Northern Ireland, yes, you can bring a claim for political discrimination
- In England, Scotland and Wales, you would need to bring a claim for philosophical or religious belief, so it’s trickier
Geography matters
There is a distinction between England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland (NI), Republic of Ireland (RoI), Ireland, Great Britain (GB) commonly shortened to Britain, and the United Kingdom (UK). It gets confusing even for those of us who live here!
- England, Scotland and Ireland are separate countries
- Wales is a principality
- GB includes England, Scotland and Wales
- UK includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Oh, and we’re all part of Europe but we’re not all part of the European Union (EU) – not since Brexit when the UK left but the Republic of Ireland stayed.
This matters from a legal point of view.
Employment law for Britain is determined by the Government in Westminster. That means Scotland and Wales don’t have their own employment law, they share the same employment laws as England.
Since 1998 the Northern Ireland Assembly has had responsibility for employment and discrimination law in NI.
Over the years, most of the legislation enacted in Westminster has also been enacted by the Northern Ireland Assembly, but there are a few differences. This article explores the issue of political opinion discrimination, which only applies in NI.
Britain
In Britain, the Equality Act 2010 was brought into force in order to introduce some new provisions and to harmonise all the previous laws on discrimination into one piece of legislation.
This Act was not introduced in NI.
Northern Ireland
NI has different statutes that deal with different types of discrimination such as sex, race, disability and age discrimination.
The law that governs political discrimination in NI is the Fair Employment and Treatment Order (Northern Ireland) 1998. This specifically protects workers against discrimination on the grounds of religious belief and political opinion and has no direct equivalent in Britain.
It means you should not be discriminated against because of your actual political opinion, supposed political opinion, or lack of political opinion.
Not all political opinions have the protection of the law. Political opinions that support or approve of the use of violence for political ends are specifically excluded from the definition. So you are not protected for:
- Approving of the use of violence for political ends connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland
- Accepting the use of violence for the purpose of putting the public in fear in Northern Ireland
Political opinion
‘Political opinion’ includes support of any Northern Ireland or UK government politics and matters of public policy. For example, you should not be treated less favourably because you are or perceived to be nationalist or unionist.
Your rights also apply if you do not hold any political opinion at all.
If you are treated worse than another person in a similar situation, you can challenge the treatment under discrimination law.
Discrimination
There are four different kinds of political opinion discrimination in NI:
- Direct discrimination, where you are treated worse than someone else because of your political opinion. For example, you don’t get offered a job you’ve applied for because you’re an Irish nationalist
- Indirect discrimination, where a rule or process that applies to everyone disadvantages you because of the political group you belong to
- Harassment, where someone behaves in a way that violates your dignity, or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment because of your political beliefs, such as sectarian harassment
- Victimisation, where you’ve suffered bad treatment because you made a complaint of political opinion discrimination, or you’ve helped someone else to do that
There are a few exceptions:
In some circumstances, political opinion discrimination is allowed, such as in relation to membership of political parties, associations and charities set up for people of a particular political opinion group.
Legal jargon
There are some differences in the legal jargon and process across the UK too.
In NI, the term “industrial tribunal” is still used, rather than “employment tribunal”. (We talk about the employment tribunal throughout this website, even though we have a main office in Northern Ireland as well as one in England.)
In NI, the Fair Employment Tribunal, deals with cases of discrimination on the grounds of religious belief or political opinion. This is technically a separate forum but it is in the same building with the same judges.
In NI, claimants reach a “compromise agreement” rather than a “settlement agreement”, which is what it’s known as in the rest of the UK. A settlement agreement is a signed written agreement which, in exchange for an agreed sum of money and/or any other agreed terms, bars you from taking the claims referred to in the agreement to any court or tribunal.
In GB, you must contact Acas before you lodge a claim in attempt to achieve early conciliation and avoid the cost of going to the employment tribunal. In NI, you should notify the LRA, which is the equivalent to Acas.
In NI, arbitration is available as an alternative to bringing a complaint to an industrial tribunal for more than 50 types of claim. In Britain, arbitration is only available for claims concerning unfair dismissal and flexible working.
What this means to you
There are strict time limits for taking a political opinion discrimination case – in fact, complaints must be made to the court within six months of the discriminatory act. It is occasionally possible to extend the time limit at the discretion of the tribunal, but don’t assume that an extension will be granted.
These statutory time limits apply even if you are still attempting to resolve the issue informally.
This means you may wish to issue proceedings if time limit is running out and the matter has not yet been resolved. However, we recommend you talk to an expert employment lawyer early for your best chance of success.
We specialise in supporting employees who’ve suffered bad treatment at work, including political discrimination in Northern Ireland. The first call is free and without obligation, so do get in touch and we’ll let you know how we can help.
Related reading
For more on this subject, you may find our related posts interesting to read. They include:
- Political discrimination
- I’ve been treated unfairly because of my political opinion
- Have I been discriminated against because of my political beliefs?
- The ‘Discrimination Act’ in Northern Ireland
- Are gender-critical beliefs classified as philosophical beliefs under the Equality Act?
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