The Polish Supreme Court has thrown out an appeal by the Swedish furniture giant IKEA filed in the case of Janusz Komenda, an employee the company fired for criticising the demands of the LGBT movement by quoting scripture.
The decision on February 24 concerned a ruling by the Kraków Regional Court, which ordered Komenda’s reinstatement to his job.
In 2019, IKEA published an article on its company intranet that asked employees to participate in pro-LGBT events.
In response, Komenda published a comment criticising the announcement and included two Bible verses referring to homosexual practices, which resulted in the store’s management dismissing him.
The Regional Court ruled that his termination was unlawful and ordered his reinstatement. IKEA challenged the decision but lost again in an appeals court.
The court based its decision on the need for workplaces to be free of ideological indoctrination, where staff were able to express their values and beliefs.
Now the Supreme Court has refused to accept IKEA’s final appeal. It concurred with the lower courts that requiring employees to participate in social initiatives as a matter of company policy exceeded the boundaries of permissible employment duties.
The court emphasised that participation in an employer’s social initiatives beyond job-related duties should be voluntary. It added that an employee’s expression of their worldview did not justify any loss of confidence in the employee when that worldview was unrelated to job performance.
In the court’s opinion, an employer may invite an employee to participate in an initiative aligned with the company’s values but exerting any form of pressure on the employee’s decision was impermissible.
The court ruled that IKEA’s definition of inclusive culture was unsatisfactory as it failed to tolerate alternative views.
“If we define an inclusive culture as one that fully integrates diverse employees through representation, openness, and fairness, then the exclusion of the plaintiff from the employee community due to his religious beliefs and differing worldview contradicts the appellant’s own rhetoric of inclusivity,” the court stated.
Paweł Szafraniec, of the Ordo Iuris Ordo think-tank’s Centre for Litigation, who acted as attorneys for Komenda, said in a statement issued by his organisation said that the Supreme Court’s verdict was a landmark decision in the campaign for employee freedom of speech.
“With this decision, the Supreme Court strengthens the barrier against big companies imposing leftist ideology on their employees, disciplining and ultimately firing those who refuse to conform,” the statement read.
Szafraniec said he also felt the court’s verdict defended Christian values.
“The court also reinforced the right of Christians to defend their values, especially in Poland, where they make up a significant part of society,” he wrote.
