(Asian News Hub) – Women are allowed to be sacked by employers for refusing to remove their hijabs, Europe’s highest court has ruled.
EU judges decreed that businesses can ban employees from wearing a headscarf under certain conditions if they need to do so to project an image of neutrality to customers.
They were asked to make a judgment on two German cases after two female employees – one a cashier and the other a support worker for children with special needs – were threatened with suspension for wearing the hijab.
“A prohibition on wearing any visible form of expression of political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace may be justified by the employer’s need to present a neutral image towards customers or to prevent social disputes,” said the EU court.
The EU Muslim Network has warned that the ruling could stoke Islamophobia in the EU.
Suliaman Wilms, who works for the organisation, told the Telegraph: “This judgment is not just a blow against active, dynamic and working Muslim women, it’s the confirmation of an ongoing European trend to constrain the religious expression of their faith and spiritual life praxis.”
The European Anti-Racism Network has also criticised the ruling.
“The Court of Justice of the EU continues to fail to protect Muslim women from structural and intersectional forms of discrimination” said Julie Pascoët, ENAR’s senior advocacy officer.
“Again, the court doesn’t take into account the disproportionate impact that companies’ policies prohibiting religious signs have on Muslim women as a result of racial and sexist prejudices against them.”
Hijab bans have been a contentious issue in Germany for many years although discussions around islamophobia are not yet playing a major role in the run up to elections this year to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor.
In neighbouring France, President Emmanuel Macron has been widely accused of stoking tensions through his “enlightened Islam” campaign which he insists is about stamping out radicalisation.
French debates about the hijab started in 2004, when a French judge ruled that a similar need for “neutrality” was a justifiable reason for sacking a daycare worker in a private creche.
EU countries have varied sets of laws and rules on headscarves.
Children in Austria under the age of 10 are not allowed to wear them to school for instance.
Decisions like this new one from the ECJ appear to contradict a legal ruling from the European Court of Human Rights which stipulated in 2013 that wearing a cross at work was a fundamental right.
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