A SCOTTISH teacher has lost a discrimination case she brought against her school’s head claiming she was targeted for being a Unionist.
Lyndsay Gibb, who works at Stranraer Academy in Dumfries and Galloway, had accused headteacher Alicia Reid of having a “personal vendetta” against her because of her support for the Union.
However, a tribunal dismissed the case, saying that Reid did not even know about Gibb’s political views.
Gibb had sued Dumfries and Galloway Council, but a Glasgow Employment Tribunal ruled that her belief in the Union “does not amount to a philosophical belief within the meaning of Section 10(2) of the Equality Act 2010”.
“In any event, the claimant has not otherwise succeeded in establishing that she has been discriminated against or harassed because of her beliefs. This claim is therefore dismissed,” Employment Judge M Robison added in the ruling.
The tribunal report says that Gibb “describes herself as ‘a proud Scot and a proud Brit’”, going on: “She is currently a member of the Conservative party. This is particularly because of its allegiance to Unionism.
“The claimant has in the past voted Labour. It is not important to her if the next government is Labour or Conservative. Because she is opposed to an independent Scotland, she would not vote for political parties which support it, in particular the SNP.”
Gibb was noted to have campaigned for No during the 2014 referendum, and for pro-Union parties around other election periods. Outwith these times, the tribunal said, she made her views known through social media.
One post which was quoted accused the SNP of making “uncosted promises of a land of milk and honey post-Scexit”, saying they had forced her “to become a tactical voter for the party most likely to keep Scotland away from the terrifying cliff-edge of separation”.
Gibb's voting Conservative was apparently the subject of a joke at another teacher's retirement party in 2019. "The joke was well-received by the company," the judgment said.
The tribunal ruling said that “references to her beliefs in social media is not sufficient to give her belief the necessary level of cogency, seriousness and cohesion required” to be protected in law.
“It cannot be said that it is in any way has a status similar to a religious belief,” the ruling said.
The tribunal, which concluded earlier in December, said ultimately “that any treatment of the claimant at the hands of Ms Reid, perceived or actual, was nothing whatsoever to do with her beliefs”.
