[B]The sacking of a bus driver for being a member of the British National Party (BNP) was a breach of his human rights, a court has ruled.
[/B]Arthur Redfearn was dismissed in 2004 after winning a seat on Bradford Council. His employer, Serco, said it feared possible reprisal attacks.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in Mr Redfearn's favour.
[B]
The judgement on Tuesday said the law must not only apply to people whose views are "favourably received".
[/B]The judges ruled Serco's actions breached the law on Freedom of Assembly and Association because [B]Mr Redfearn was sacked from his job of six months only because of his membership of a political party[/B].
In August 2004 Mr Redfearn lodged a claim of race discrimination which was dismissed by an employment tribunal which found that any discrimination against him had been on health and safety grounds.
The tribunal found his continued employment could cause considerable anxiety among Serco's passengers and their carers and [B]there was a risk vehicles could come under attack from opponents of the BNP.[/B]
In July 2005 Mr Redfearn successfully appealed against the decision after an appeal tribunal heard no consideration had been given to any alternatives to dismissal.
But in May 2006, the Court of Appeal allowed Serco's appeal, finding that Mr Redfearn's complaint was of discrimination on political and not racial grounds, which fell outside anti-discrimination laws.
In its judgement, the European court judges said: "[B]The court was struck by the fact that he had been summarily dismissed following complaints about problems which had never actually occurred[/B], without any apparent consideration being given to the possibility of transferring him to a non-customer facing role.
"In fact, prior to his political affiliation becoming public knowledge, neither service users nor colleagues had complained about Mr Redfearn, who was considered a 'first-class employee'."
[B]A Serco spokeswoman said it was aware of the ruling and would now "digest and review the findings".[/B]
[URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-20235101[/URL]
The fact that someone was fired due to their political beliefs is just as bad as the said political beliefs the fired man has.
It's fair enough, in my opinion. You shouldn't be sacked purely because you support a particular party.
I know its a dick move to fire somebody because of their political beliefs, but I see where the company is coming from.
The BNP is one, if not, the most hated group in Britain, not only does having a BNP member in your staff make the company look bad, but its also a safety issue for the other staff and property within the company.
That said I'm probably biased against him because he and everyone else in that pathetic little jingoistic circlejerk are the the scum of society.
I dont think someone who is a member of such a party is fitted to work as someone who meets thousands of people every day from different ethnicities and such.
Still, they should have fired him based on how he acts to the customers and not what political party he supports.
[QUOTE=Noss;38357397]I know its a dick move to fire somebody because of their political beliefs, but I see where the company is coming from.
The BNP is one, if not, the most hated group in Britain, not only does having a BNP member in your staff make the company look bad, but its also a safety issue for the other staff and property within the company.
That said I'm probably biased against him because he and everyone else in that pathetic little jingoistic circlejerk are the the scum of society.[/QUOTE]
Doesn't matter. The whole idea of having political parties is that people should be free to align themselves with whichever one they choose without consequence.
[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;38357420]I dont think someone who is a member of such a party is fitted to work as someone who meets thousands of people every day from different ethnicities and such.[/QUOTE]
Why? Until that person does something illegal, we are just making unfair assumptions about them.
if they were worried about people effecting the service in some way because of his BNP affiliation, they should've waited until they had some solid evidence on the matter. pre-emptive sacking is just a breach of human rights and nothing else
[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;38357420]I dont think someone who is a member of such a party is fitted to work as someone who meets thousands of people every day from different ethnicities and such.
[b]Still, they should have fired him based on how he acts to the customers[/b] and not what political party he supports.[/QUOTE]
"In fact, prior to his political affiliation becoming public knowledge, neither service users nor colleagues had complained about Mr Redfearn, who was considered a 'first-class employee'."
But the way he acted to customers was exemplary. The article doesn't mention him ever doing anything bad to other employees or customers, it only mentions him being a great employee so he shouldn't have been fired for his political beliefs.
My father is a member of the BNP, he keeps his political beliefs completely away from me, my sister and the rest of the family because he knows it would affect us. He is a loving guy, he works as a volunteer at an animal's home looking after sick dogs and dogs which have been abandoned by their owners. He used to work as a volunteer at a care home looking after the elderly.
Just because he is a member of the BNP doesn't mean he hates everyone and is a violent person, he keeps politics away from us and lets us choose for ourselves. He doesn't hate anyone, but he does love Britain and he sees the BNP as being the way to help Britain after the Gulf War then the mess New Labour made in 2008. I myself disagree with him and disagree with Nick Griffin's BNP, although the average member is not a right-wing extremist but rather an Old Labour Socialist who is frustrated with New Labour.
Maybe people should learn a bit more about people before they make these stupid opinions that they are violent, evil people. Many BNP voters are not racist although the organisation is, they just see it as the only way of restoring Britain or just don't know about the racist views of the leaders because they do well to cover it up.
[QUOTE=Scrappa;38358475]"In fact, prior to his political affiliation becoming public knowledge, neither service users nor colleagues had complained about Mr Redfearn, who was considered a 'first-class employee'."
But the way he acted to customers was exemplary. The article doesn't mention him ever doing anything bad to other employees or customers, it only mentions him being a great employee so he shouldn't have been fired for his political beliefs.
My father is a member of the BNP, he keeps his political beliefs completely away from me, my sister and the rest of the family because he knows it would affect us. He is a loving guy, he works as a volunteer at an animal's home looking after sick dogs and dogs which have been abandoned by their owners. He used to work as a volunteer at a care home looking after the elderly.
Just because he is a member of the BNP doesn't mean he hates everyone and is a violent person, he keeps politics away from us and lets us choose for ourselves. He doesn't hate anyone, but he does love Britain and he sees the BNP as being the way to help Britain after the Gulf War then the mess New Labour made in 2008. I myself disagree with him and disagree with Nick Griffin's BNP, although the average member is not a right-wing extremist but rather an Old Labour Socialist who is frustrated with New Labour.
Maybe people should learn a bit more about people before they make these stupid opinions that they are violent, evil people. Many BNP voters are not racist although the organisation is, they just see it as the only way of restoring Britain or [B]just don't know about the racist views of the leaders because they do well to cover it up.[/B][/QUOTE]
uhm, it's all over the news, even I know about it and I live in the US
It's not all over British news anymore. Back in the 80's and 90's it was because the leaders made no attempt to hide it but the new style BNP hide it as much as they can although they are still VERY racist.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GQbs1lX3YRA#t=25s[/url]
BNP's true agenda. Many people don't know it and even members or representatives of the party don't know it, recently one BNP Councillor quit the party and became an independent after doing some research into Nick Griffin's true views.
[QUOTE=Scrappa;38358725]It's not all over British news anymore. Back in the 80's and 90's it was because the leaders made no attempt to hide it but the new style BNP hide it as much as they can although they are still VERY racist.
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GQbs1lX3YRA#t=25s[/URL]
BNP's true agenda. Many people don't know it and even members or representatives of the party don't know it, recently one BNP Councillor quit the party and became an independent after doing some research into Nick Griffin's true views.[/QUOTE]
still, if people can't be bothered to do such research into their own political party it's sort of inexcusable.
(not defending the sacking, talking about reasonable people supporting this crazy party)
So you can't fire someone for being a racist cunt?
[QUOTE=Pepsi-cola;38358760]So you can't fire someone for being a racist cunt?[/QUOTE]
you can fire someone for acting like a racist cunt, but not for being one; because the former is required to prove the latter.
They weren't firing him for being racist, they were firing him because they where scared people would find out and target their buses or their company
[QUOTE=Scrappa;38358475]
Maybe people should learn a bit more about people before they make these stupid opinions that they are violent, evil people. Many BNP voters are not racist although the organisation is, they just see it as the only way of restoring Britain or just don't know about the racist views of the leaders because they do well to cover it up.[/QUOTE]
Don't be so naive.
The man in question received a seat on the council. He and the other members of the BNP know full well that the organization is homophobic, racist and jingoistic.
I don't care if somebody is frustrated with New Labour, that is no excuse to associate yourself with this pathetic excuse of a political party. All the members know the true roots of the party and by being a part of it are equally as bad as the bigots within it.
[QUOTE=Noss;38357397]I know its a dick move to fire somebody because of their political beliefs, but I see where the company is coming from.
The BNP is one, if not, the most hated group in Britain, not only does having a BNP member in your staff make the company look bad, but its also a safety issue for the other staff and property within the company.
That said I'm probably biased against him because he and everyone else in that pathetic little jingoistic circlejerk are the the scum of society.[/QUOTE]
Simple enough.
*The views of employees on the payroll of _______ Company do not represent the opinions, beliefs and obligations of ________ Company in it's entirety, nor does _______ Company endorse the views of it's employees.
[QUOTE=ewitwins;38359048]Simple enough.
*The views of employees on the payroll of _______ Company do not represent the opinions, beliefs and obligations of ________ Company in it's entirety, nor does _______ Company endorse the views of it's employees.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I know, I wasn't saying the company was right to do it, but I do understand why they did it.
[QUOTE=Noss;38359023]Don't be so naive.
The man in question received a seat on the council. He and the other members of the BNP know full well that the organization is homophobic, racist and jingoistic.
I don't care if somebody is frustrated with New Labour, that is no excuse to associate yourself with this pathetic excuse of a political party. All the members know the true roots of the party and by being a part of it are equally as bad as the bigots within it.[/QUOTE]
Wow you're so wrong.
There was an elected BNP Councillor here recently who quit the BNP and stood as an independent and was re-elected after she found out the true intentions of Nick Griffin and BNP leadership. Not everyone in the party or even who represents the party knows Nick Griffin's intentions or his ridiculous past.
Political freedom > Cheap shots at racists
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;38357356]The fact that someone was fired due to their political beliefs is just as bad as the said political beliefs the fired man has.[/QUOTE]
It's only because of being sacked for things that hadn't occurred. IF he was just a member of the BNP without these false allegations being made, he'd probably have lost this.
Sounds dumb, but that's the way it works.
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