In Arya v London Borough of Waltham Forest, Arya was dismissed from his position as a teacher, following various allegations of misconduct including voicing anti-Semitic views to a colleague in a text message and an email. Amongst Arya’s various tribunal claims was one of discrimination because of a philosophical belief that “the Jewish religion's professed belief in Jews being 'God's chosen people' is at odds with a meritocratic and multicultural society”. The first step was to decide whether his belief came within the protected characteristic of a “philosophical belief” under the Equality Act 2010. Applying the guidance in Grainger plc v Nicholson [2010] IRLR 4 the tribunal decided that Arya’s belief is genuinely held, does affect his way of life/view of the world and does attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance. But his belief failed the part of the test which requires that it must “be worthy of respect in a democratic society and not incompatible with human dignity and/or conflict with the fundamental rights of others”. In the tribunal’s view Arya's views could not be a “philosophical belief” because they are formed on prejudice and negativity about the Jewish religion.
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