The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently handed down its judgment in University of Bristol v Miller [2026] EAT 84, an important appeal concerning the scope of protection against belief discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. The decision confirms that employees who express political beliefs at work, including more controversial views, may be protected under the Equality Act 2010.
Dr David Miller was a Professor of Political Sociology. In February 2021 he made a series of public statements, including a comment that members of Bristol University's Jewish Society were “political pawns” for a racist regime engaged in ethnic cleansing. He had also described political Zionism as “inherently racist, imperialistic and colonial” and said that it “ought therefore to be opposed”.
Although he was not found to be antisemitic, he was dismissed by the University of Bristol on 01 October 2021.
Subsequently, he submitted a claim at the Employment Tribunal (ET) following his dismissal for unfair dismissal and belief discrimination.
A key issue was whether the dismissal was because of Professor Miller's protected beliefs or because of the way he had expressed those beliefs. The University argued that its concerns related to the manner and impact of his comments. The ET expressly found that Dr Miller was not antisemitic and held that his opposition to Zionism, as he defined it, was a genuinely held philosophical belief protected under s10 of the...
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