Top EU court backs ban on headscarves in workplace

MUSLIM employees can be banned from wearing headscarves if the employer needs ‘to present a neutral image’, the EU’s top court has ruled.

The Court of Justice was asked to consider cases brought by two women in Germany who were suspended for going to work in traditional hijabs which cover the head and shoulders.

The employees – a special-needs carer at a childcare centre in Hamburg and a cashier at a pharmacy chain – were suspended after being told to remove the garments, which they had begun wearing after returning from parental leave.

Judges had to decide if this was a violation of the freedom of religion.

But they found: ‘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.’

The Luxembourg court said that the employer must have a genuine need to remain neutral.

The Open Society Justice Initiative said it was concerned the ruling ‘may continue to exclude many Muslim women, and those of other religious minorities, from various jobs in Europe’.

Headscarf bans at work have long been contentious in Germany, mostly with regard to aspiring teachers at state schools and trainee judges.

France has banned them in state schools. In Austria, a law banning girls aged up to ten from wearing them in schools was found to be discriminatory.