Employers can now ban workers from wearing Islamic headscarves

“We have a strong tradition in this country of freedom of expression, and it is the right of all women to choose how they dress and we don’t intend to legislate on this issue”.

While the cases were linked by the European court, the French case differs and offers Asma Bougnaoui a reason for optimism because the reasons for her dismissal as a design engineer were based, not on internal rules, but on the complaint of a customer unhappy with her Islamic headscarf.

The Luxembourg-based court had been solicited by the Court of Cassation, Belgium’s court of last resort, over the case of Samira Achbita, who was dismissed in 2006 by the service company G4S.

The court’s decision is the first to explicitly appertain to Islamic headscarves at work. The ECJ’s judgment is interesting as it allows employers to put in place “blanket bans” on all religious symbols – which include crosses and headscarves.

The ECJ also ruled that the ban would not be justifiable if imposed for customer satisfaction.

EMPLOYERS are entitled to forbid their Muslim staff from wearing headscarves as long as it is part of a consistent practice of banning the display of religious or ideological symbols, and not a one-off action aimed at satisfying the demands of a particular client. One French MEP tweeted gleefully that “Even the ECJ votes Marine”, after the EU’s highest court appeared to reverse established law from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), notionally Europe’s predominant human rights standards setting court, and important precedents in the US.

The ruling, which sets a EU-wide precedent, came a day before the Netherlands’ parliamentary elections, which have been dominated by issues of integration and identity.

It said that this amendment has covered “any manifestation of such beliefs without distinction”, and was therefore not discriminatory.

European rabbis said the Court had added to rising incidences of hate crime to send a message that “faith communities are no longer welcome”.

Europe is facing a growing debate over whether to restrict the rights of Muslims to preserve the continent’s secular values.

Users pointed out that the ruling would disproportionately affect Muslim women. “Now more than ever, it is important for everyone to unite against any sort of discrimination, and to empower European Union citizens in order to build strong and inclusive societies”.

Social media users responded to the ruling with anger and disappointment.

Crucially, the ban must also be based on internal rules requiring all employees to “dress neutrally”, and can not be based on the wishes of a customer, the ECJ said.

However, the court noted that such indirect discrimination “may be objectively justified by a legitimate aim, such as the pursuit by the employer, in its relations with its customers, of a policy of political, philosophical and religious neutrality, provided that the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary”.

“Instead of seeking to make us all look the same, governments and employers should focus on protecting our fundamental right to freely express our faith, ‘ said Martha Spurrier, director of United Kingdom civil liberty and human rights body Liberty”.