The European Court of Justice has ruled that a workplace ban on the wearing of any "political, philosophical or religious sign" does not call out direct discrimination. However, it added, it should be based on internal company rules requiring employees to "dress neutrally" and cannot be based on the wishes of a customer.
Prompted by the case of Samira Achbita, who was fired in June 2006, when she began wearing a headscarf to work after three years of employment at security company G4S, the ruling is the court's first on the subject. Achbita claimed she was being directly discriminated against on grounds of her religion. Belgium's court of cassation referred the case to the EU's top court. The court's ruling has upset several liberals, with rights group Amnesty International calling it "disappointing" and that it "opened a backdoor to...prejudice."
In its defence, the ECJ clearly stated that, "The willingness of an employer to take account of the wishes of a customer no longer to have the services of that employer provided by a worker wearing an Islamic headscarf cannot be considered a genuine ande determining occupational requirement." Issues of Mulsim dress have been prominent topics of debate across Europe recently. Places like Austria, and Bavaria, have already announced bans on full-face veils in public places.
The court, in Achbita's case said G4S's rules prohibited "any manifestation of such beliefs without distinction", and were therefore not directly discriminatory. It added that "an employer's desire to project an image of neutrality towards both its public and private sector customers is legitimate."
Director of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia programme, John Dalhuisen said the decision gave "greater leeway to employers to discriminate against women, and men, on the grounds of religious belief." "The court did say that employers are not at liberty to pander to the prejudices of their clients. But by ruling that company policies can prohibit religious symbols on the grounds of neutrality, they have opened a backdoor to precisely such prejudice."
"Europe is sending a clear message- its faith communities are no longer welcome," said the Conference of European Rabbis.
