Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Ms A Brett

1 EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS Claimant: MR S THOMAS Respondents: 1. SURREY AND BORDERS PARTNERSHIP NHS FOUNDATION TRUST 2. MS A BRETT OPEN PRELIMINARY HEARING Heard at: London South On: 17 July 2020 Before: Employment Judge C Hyde, sitting alone Appearances For the Claimant: Mr O Davies, Counsel For the Respondents: Ms R Azib, Counsel RESERVED PRELIMINARY HEARING JUDGMENT The Judgment of the Tribunal is that: - 1. the Claimant’s belief in English nationalism includes anti-Islamic views which do not fulfil the fifth criterion in the case of Grainger v Grainger plc v Nicholson [2010] ICR 360 and is therefore not capable of being a protected characteristic. 2. The discrimination complaint under the Equality Act 2010 is therefore dismissed. REASONS 1. Reasons are provided for the Judgment above as the Judgment was reserved. They are set out here only to the extent that it is necessary to do so for the parties 2 to understand why they have won or lost, and only to the extent that it is proportionate to do so. Open Preliminary Hearing Issues 2. At a Closed Preliminary Hearing on 18 March 2020, Employment Judge Hargrove ordered that this Preliminary Hearing should take place to determine the following issues (p71): a. Is English nationalism capable of constituting a philosophical belief under section 10 of the Equality Act 2010? b. Did the Claimant hold anti-Islamic views as part of his philosophical beliefs at the relevant time? c. If so, were those anti-Islamic views incompatible with the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 2, 5 and 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, such that they would prevent the Claimant’s belief in English nationalism from being a protected characteristic? 3. Although both Counsel addressed the Tribunal at some length about the effect of the Conventi...