Employers allowed to ban staff from wearing headscarves, rules EU
Posted March 14, 2017 9:04 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PARIS, FRANCE (NEWS 1130) – The European Union Court of Justice has ruled that private businesses in Europe can forbid Muslim women who work for them from wearing headscarves. But it says the ban must be part of a policy of neutrality within the company and not a sign of prejudice against a particular religion.
Such a ban doesn’t constitute what the court calls “direct discrimination.”
The conclusion by the highest court in the 28-nation European Union is in response to two cases brought by a Belgian and a French woman, both fired for refusing to remove their headscarves.
The Court made separate decisions on the cases, which were referred to them by the courts of Cassation in Belgium and France, but linked the cases.
The rulings clarify a long-standing question about whether bans by some countries on religious symbols, in classrooms, for example, can be extended to the workplace.
The court’s response feeds right into the French presidential campaign, bolstering the platforms of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, a leading contender in the spring election who wants to do away with all “ostentatious” religious symbols in the name of secularism, and conservative Francois Fillon, who hailed the court’s decisions.
France already bans headscarves and other religious symbols in classrooms as well as face-covering veils in streets.
However, critics are voicing fears that the decision risks becoming a setback to all working Muslim women.
Amnesty International says the disappointing ruling gives greater leeway to employers to discriminate against women — and men — on the grounds of religious belief. It says at a time when identity and appearance have become a political battleground, people need more protection against prejudice — not less.
Georgina Siklossy of the European Network Against Racism in Brussels is expressing concern the decision could force Muslim women to choose between working and wearing religious garments — and other minority populations in Europe, like Sikhs with turbans or Jews with kippahs.
