Employers may forbid religious symbols in workplace
The European Court of Justice has ruled that EU discrimination laws were not broken when a woman was fired from her job in Flemish Brabant because she refused to remove her headscarf
Ban must treat all symbols the same
The ruling follows a case brought by a Belgian woman who was fired from a job with security firm G4S in Vilvoorde. After three years working as a receptionist at the company, Samira Achbita decided to begin wearing her headscarf at work. The company then formalised its unwritten policy against the wearing of symbols that suggest a certain religion, political affiliation or philosophical belief.
Achbita continued to wear her headscarf and was dismissed. She took the case all the way to Belgium’s Cassation Court, which then turned to the ECJ for a ruling on the interpretation of EU law on anti-discrimination.
According to the court, G4S’s rules are not an example of discrimination on the basis of religion because the ban is so wide-ranging. However, if an apparently neutral rule were to be implemented in such a way that only one particular group was disadvantaged, then that would be what the court called “indirect discrimination”.
The Cassation Court will now examine whether that condition is applicable in this case. “This landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice has the benefit of clarity,” commented Zuhal Demir, federal secretary of state for equal opportunities. “It gives clear guidelines to companies. The framework is also very clear for employees.”
Photo: Osomedia/BELGA
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