When this woman tried to sue her boss for firing her, it backfired in the best way ever. Do you support the court’s decision to defend this employer’s decision? Or do you think that this is discriminatory?
Do you support the court's decision to defend this employer's decision?
LONDON — A company can bar a Muslim female employee from wearing a head scarf at work, as long as the policy applies to all religious garb and does not single out Islam, according to an advisory opinion that the European Union’s highest court released on Tuesday.
The opinion was handed down in a case brought by a Muslim woman in Belgium, Samira Achbita, who was fired from her job as a receptionist at a security company.
It comes as Europe struggles with the role of Islam in the public sphere, a debate fueled in recent years by rising immigration, the refugee crisis and concerns about terrorism.
Juliane Kokott, an advocate general with the European Court of Justice, wrote in the opinion that a ban on head scarves “does not constitute direct discrimination based on religion,” which would violate European regulations, “if that ban is founded on a general company rule prohibiting visible political, philosophical and religious symbols in the workplace, and not on stereotypes or prejudice against one or more particular religions or against religious beliefs in general.”
Read more: NY Times
