You can’t sack someone … because he expressed a Bible belief
You can’t sack someone … because he expressed a belief
Israel Folau saga has unleashed “Christian culture wars”, triggering a fightback against big business and its increasing push to control how workers behave in their private lives, a leading employment lawyer has warned.
Why because he quoted on his personal tweet the Bible.
Josh Bornstein, who heads Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, the largest employment law firm in the country, says corporations have become so obsessed with their own “brand management” they were demanding impossibly high “levels of impeccable behavior”.
Mr Bornstein said Rugby Australia, still had no business sacking him for “his Christian views”. He said “broad and vague” codes of conduct and contractual obligations were being imposed on employees to make them abide by company policies and values. But they also extended to employees’ behavior outside the workplace.
You can’t sack someone … because he expressed a belief
That meant workers could be sacked or disciplined for anything from swearing to posting on social media, simply because it was at odds with corporations’ public “brand”. Brand managers, he said, were “professional catastrophists” who went into “damage control” at the first sign of negative media coverage
“We are now in the middle of a Christian culture war that has a long, long way to go. This will make the gay marriage debate look like a walk in the park,” Mr Bornstein told The Australian.
“Brand management is being used to subvert our legal rights and other human rights.’’
You can’t sack someone … because he expressed a belief
Mr Bornstein said most workers wrongly sacked tended to settle outside court as taking on “employers with deep pockets” was financially impossible.
Folau’s planned legal challenge in the Federal Court was a long-overdue opportunity “to get some proper judicial considerations on this issue”. “The critical question that court will have to determine is what is the reason for his sacking,” Mr Bornstein said.
“Folau will say he was simply expressing his religious beliefs and the contract can’t be enforced if it undermines his statutory protections. You can’t sack someone … because he expressed a belief.”
