Ethical Vegan Wins Tribunal Case Against His Employer

Jordi Casamitjana has announced a “victory for animal protection” after settling a case against his former employer an anti-hunting charity in the court.

Casamitjana claimed he was fired by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS), after he expressed the concerns that its pension fund was being invested with pharmaceutical companies that tested on animals and oil companies that damage the environment.

He discovered the charity’s pension funds were invested in the pharmaceutical firms AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, the oil company Royal Dutch Shell and tobacco companies.

His case at the Watford tribunal centre was settled today with the LACS conceding that he had done nothing wrong in raising his concerns.

Casamitjana said: “This has been a great victory for all ethical vegans and animal protection. After nearly two years of litigation against the League Against Cruel Sports, I am extremely happy with the conclusion that we have secured. “The case has established that ethical vegans are protected from discrimination, and I have received the acknowledgement I sought that my dismissal was based on my ethical veganism and was not justified or justifiable.”   Casamitjana told the tribunal he asked for his personal contributions to be stopped in January 2017, and the company assured him it would be arranged.

In October he discovered that his contributions had not changed and he had personally contributed £1,766. 

He informed his colleagues because he believes “ethical vegans should promote ethical consumption in others”.

In his statement following the result, Casamitjana said the LACS had conceded his actions were “genuine and correct”.

He said: “I worked for the League for several years over two separate spells of employment, and I know that it is staffed and supported by people with strong ethical principles to protect animals, the environment and society.

“I am hopeful that the events of the past few years will prompt the League to learn from its mistakes and enable it to reclaim its position as one of the most important animal welfare charities in the UK.”

Casamitjana said that LACS had changed its pension arrangements to make them “ethical”.

LACS’s spokeswoman said: “The only reason for the dismissal of Mr Casamitjana in 2018 was his communications to his colleagues in relation to our pension arrangements. Having revisited the issue, we now accept that Mr Casamitjana did nothing wrong with such communications, which were motivated by his belief in ethical veganism.

“We are grateful to Mr Casamitjana for having raised the issue of pensions to us, which allowed us to change our default pension fund to an ethical one closer to our values.”