A British man sued his employers for religious discrimination, claiming he was dismissed because of his environmental views.  A British court has ruled that his suit has standing, allowing his environmental beliefs to be defined as a religion for the purposes of enforcing the nation’s anti-discrimination laws.

In a landmark ruling, Mr Justice Michael Burton said that “a belief in man-made climate change ... is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations”. ...

The decision regards Tim Nicholson, former head of sustainability at property firm Grainger plc, who claims he was made redundant in July 2008 due to his “philosophical belief about climate change and the environment”.

In March, employment judge David Heath gave Mr Nicholson permission to take the firm to tribunal over his treatment.

But Grainger challenged the ruling on the grounds that green views were political and based on science, as opposed to religious or philosophical in nature.

Apparently the court felt that Mr. Nichson’s views had more to do with blind faith than science or reason.

All chuckling aside, this ruling has some serious implications:

The ruling could open the door for employees to sue their companies for failing to account for their green lifestyles, such as providing recycling facilities or offering low-carbon travel.

Got that?  If your company’s cars aren’t hybrids, if you don’t have solar panels on your company’s roof, you could be sued for discrimination.

Unbelievable.