Environment

Fired employee claims bias against environmental views

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Tim Nicholson, a former employee of the British property firm Grainger, who claims he lost his job due to his environmental beliefs. A British court today ruled that Nicholson could sue his former employer under laws normally used to protect people from religious discrimination.

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MARCO WERMAN: If doing something about climate change is indeed a marathon, Tim Nicholson is an elite runner. Nicholson says he lives a green lifestyle and he tried to set up a carbon management system for the British property firm he worked for. Note we said we worked for. Tim Nicholson was dismissed from his job. The company says it was because of the economy. Nicholson says it was because of his views on climate change. Now a British court has sided with him. Tim Nicholson joins us from London and Tim you say you were fired for your environmental beliefs. Explain what happened.

TIM NICHOLSON: I was head of sustainability for Granger and I felt that I was obstructed in properly fulfilling that role. And I believe that in part that obstruction was because of my philosophical belief in climate change. And also when I was dismissed in October 2008 I felt that that dismissal was again in part due to my philosophical belief in climate change.

WERMAN: So head of sustainability for Granger. Elaborate what that job entailed and tell us also what kind of company Granger is.

NICHOLSON: Granger is a residential property investment company. So it owns houses and flats across the country and as head of sustainability I was seeking to, or I was required to, promote sustainable measures within the organization.

WERMAN: So if you think you were fired for your beliefs on climate change tell us what kind of things you saw happening at Granger that lead you to that belief.

NICHOLSON: Well unfortunately because my legal case in ongoing I can’t talk in detail about the situation that I encountered.

WERMAN: Just something I read that maybe you can clarify. I understood that your supervisor had another employee fly his Blackberry up to Ireland. Were you kind of blowing the whistle on that? Am I getting the story right?

NICHOLSON: I made reference to that incident in my witness statement for the first step in the legal process back in March and that was the chief executive of the company and he’d been attending a conference in Ireland and indeed he had left his Blackberry, his mobile phone, behind in London and rather than survive for 48 hours or find some other technical solution a member of the IT staff was flown out with the Blackberry to Ireland in order to deliver it to him. Now I suggested that that showed the level of contempt within in terms of an action for the need to cut carbon emissions.

WERMAN: Now for the record we contacted Granger PLC regarding your case today and they issued this statement. They said, Mr. Nicholson’s redundancy was driven solely by the operational needs of the company. During a period of extraordinary market turbulence which also required other structural changes to be made within the company. Tim Nicholson anything you care to say to that in response?

NICHOLSON: I’m not surprised by their statement but clearly it’s not something that I agree with.

WERMAN: Well how would you characterize yourself Tim? Would you say you’re an environmental activist or were you just trying to do your job as sustainability manager at Granger?

NICHOLSON: I was trying to do my job as best I could. But I do recognize the very precarious position that we’re in in relation to climate change. And I think it is important for moral and ethical reasons and lots of others as well but particularly moral and ethical reasons that we cut our carbon emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change and catastrophic climate change that the overwhelming body of scientific research says are manmade and will lead to disaster if we don’t do something about it urgently.

WERMAN: Well you came to our studios at the BBC this afternoon on your folding bicycle in the center of London. What else do you do to keep your carbon footprint small?

NICHOLSON: Well I’ve given up flying. Now that I understand that flying has a very significant carbon footprint, neither my wife nor I fly anymore. We’ve eco-renovated our home. So we’ve implemented various measures to cut the energy consumption of our property. I’m working for a charity that promotes sustainability in our health service. And I’ve joined a campaign called 1010 which is a commitment to cut carbon emission by 10 percent during 2010.

WERMAN: Tim Nicholson, the former head of sustainability for Granger PLC, a property company in the UK. I greatly appreciate your time. Thanks for coming in.

NICHOLSON: You’re welcome.

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