Employers can forbid the headscarf to their female employees: this is the worrying data that emerges from the sentence of the European Union Court of Justice, which expressed it self on the complaint presented by of two muslim women in Belgium and France, which lost their jobs because of wearing a headscarf.

The before-written employers, forbid their employees to show visible religious attributes.The restriction is part of an internal norm, which impose workers to abstain from boasting any sign of religious, political or philosophical belief. The norm should protect the neutrality of working places and so to not unsettle clients’ sensibility. The expression of one’s own personality in this case should be legit just for back office jobs.
For the European Court this is a discrimination warranted by legitimate aim.

On the contrary, this sentence could represent a dangerous precedent, which doesn’t only support discrimination of muslim women on the working place, but also contributes to legitimate the already widespread islamophobia. So, we endorse the statement diffused by ENAR (European Network Against Racism) together with other antiracist organizations, of which we report the text:

EU Court decision on workplace ban on headscarf legitimises discrimination of Muslim women

Brussels, 14 March 2017 – A decision by the EU Court of Justice backing private sector workplace bans on headscarves seriously undermines the right to equality and non-discrimination of women, a group of anti-racism organisations said today.[1]
The Court ruled on two cases brought by women employees who were dismissed because they wore the headscarf, and said that internal rules prohibiting visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign do not constitute direct discrimination.
“This is an extremely worrying decision because it effectively bars Muslim women wearing the headscarf from the workplace”, said Amel Yacef, ENAR Chair. “This is nothing short of a Muslim ban applied only to women in private employment, just because of how they choose to dress according their religion.”
This judgment forces Muslim women who wear a headscarf, Sikhs wearing a turban and Jews wearing a kippa to choose between their religious expression, which is a fundamental right, and their right to access the labour market.
Forbidding employees from wearing visible signs of their religion treats those employees who wear religious clothing less favourably on grounds of religion. This ruling differentiates between religions which include visible expressions of belief and those which don’t. It will therefore also have an impact on other groups who express their religious beliefs through clothing.
The Court argues that the refusal to allow the employee to wear a headscarf was based on a wish by the private employer to appear ‘neutral’ on the question of religion towards their customers. The fact that the Court accepts this interpretation of the neutrality argument as a legitimate aim is unacceptable. It legitimises the fact that private employers give priority to the wishes of their customers above the fundamental rights of their employees. It forces employees who are visibly religious to back office jobs.
With this judgment, the European Court of Justice blatantly disregards the societal context Muslim women face in Europe. Muslim women already experience significant obstacles in finding and keeping a job and this decision will only make matters worse, giving employers a license to discriminate.

For further information, contact:
Georgina Siklossy, Senior Communication and Press Officer
Tel: +32 (0)2 229 35 70 – Mobile: +32 (0)473 490 531 – Email: georgina@enar-eu.org – Web: www.enar-eu.org

[1] European Network Against Racism (ENAR), Federation of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO), European Forum of Muslim Women (EFOMW), KARAMAH EU – Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium, collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), Boeh! – Baas Over Eigen Hoofd (Belgium), Stichting Platform Islamitische Organisaties Rijnmond – SPIOR (Netherlands), Muslim Human Rights Committee Sweden, Al Nisa (Netherlands).