University sued by staff member because his pension isn't VEGAN

He objected to the terms of his pension scheme and decided to opt out of it.

At tribunal, the man said a Sharia pension was offered for Muslim workers, so a pension pot for vegans would not have been a stretch.

But the man’s claim of religious discrimination was thrown out by a judge at Manchester Employment Tribunal because it had “no reasonable prospect of success”.

He worked for the university between June 2023 and January 2024 and was auto-enrolled into Manchester’s Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

At tribunal, he sued both the University of Manchester and the USS.

The ex-employee said he was a victim of “indirect discrimination on the grounds of his belief in ethical veganism”.

He asked the tribunal to award compensation for lost employee pension contributions as well as interest and compensation for any tax advantage lost.

The former staff member claimed that the USS, as the largest pension scheme in the country, had approximately 10,000 vegan members.

The tribunal heard: “It is [the university and the USS]'s case that the claim is misconceived and has no reasonable prospect of success.”

The tribunal said it was not possible for the university to offer pension provisions to its employees using other schemes.

The tribunal was also told: “Also, the [worker] admitted that there exists no ethical vegan pension fund at present.

“They are in the process of being established.”

“It is therefore not possible for the [USS], even if it felt able to, to offer employees the chance to invest in such a scheme as none currently exist…”

By law, every UK employee is enrolled into a workplace pension scheme that their employer must contribute to.

The man suing the University of Manchester was the only member of staff to opt out of the scheme on account of ethical veganism.

He said the existence of the Sharia law pension fund proved the “feasibility of offering funds that conform to belief-based criteria”.

However, the Sharia fund scheme comprises several existing schemes on the investment market, whereas no vegan pension scheme is currently available.

Employment judge Rachel Barker said: “The [worker] told me that the key point in this case was not statistical evidence, or legal argument, but ‘the morality of the issue’.

“I told him, and I repeat that here for the record, that this is not the primary consideration.

“The Tribunal must apply the law as it currently stands, not as a [worker] may wish it to be.

“If the [worker] wishes to see a change in the law, it is for him to approach his MP or consider another way of influencing those who make the law.”