Revisiting Redfearn: The European Convention on Human Rights and the protection of political opinion in the workplace in Great Britain

In Redfearn v the United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights held that it was incumbent on the United Kingdom to introduce measures to provide for protection from dismissal for employees on the grounds of political opinion or affiliation, regardless of their length of service. This resulted in a small but significant reform in employment law in Great Britain, namely the disapplication of the continuous service requirement for bringing an unfair dismissal claim where an employee is dismissed because of their political opinion or affiliation. In this article I argue that there is a positive obligation upon the UK to go further than what was required under Redfearn, namely, to provide judicial safeguards where non-employee workers are dismissed or applicants refused employment on (in either case) political grounds. The article provides an overview of the scope of workplace protection against detrimental treatment on political grounds in the UK. It considers this framework against the UK's obligations as a Member State of the International Labour Organization and the Council of Europe and notes that the issue is becoming more pressing with the development of social media. The article concludes by arguing that the UK should legislate to create gateway claims (or extend existing jurisdictions) for dismissed workers and disappointed applicants who consider that they have been subjected to such detrimental treatment on political grounds. Whilst the article focuses on the UK, its arguments can be extended to other Council of Europe member states which do not already provide such protection.

https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525241312154