World of HR: European court rules that religious head coverings can be banned in public workspaces

Government municipalities in the European Union can prohibit public workers from wearing religious symbols, according to a Nov. 28 ruling from its top court, Reuters reported.

Where in the world? The case was first brought in Belgium, where a Muslim woman was told she couldn’t wear her headscarf at her office job with the city of Ans, the BBC reported. The municipality then amended its employment rules to say that employees must present themselves as religiously neutral.

The woman claimed the rule infringed on her right to religious freedom and that her role was not public-facing, which was a stipulation in the latest guidance from the European Court of Justice in 2021. But the court ruled that religious neutrality was necessary, and left degrees of neutrality up to municipalities and member countries to determine, but said it must be done consistently, according to the Independent.

It went on to say that “such a rule is not discriminatory if it is applied in a general and indiscriminate manner to all of that administration’s staff and is limited to what is strictly necessary.”

Satellite view. The ruling is the latest on religious head coverings in recent years that have targeted Muslim women in particular. For instance, in 2011, France banned women from wearing the Islamic face-covering known as a niqab, as well as burqas, which cover the whole body in public. Other European countries, including Denmark, Austria, and Belgium, followed France’s lead.

And in 2021, the European Court of Justice ruled that, while religious discrimination in the workplace is illegal in Germany, employers there can have religious neutrality policies, as long as they’re “essential for business,” Al Jazeera reported. The ruling came after two German women employed by private businesses were told to remove their hijabs at work.

The Council on American and Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, has condemned the high court’s rulings on the hijab, stating, “The Court of Justice of the European Union has trampled on the basic principles of religious freedom by denying Muslim women the right to wear a hijab at work. This decision and past rulings in European nations clearly target Muslims and seek to eliminate expressions of Islam from public spaces.”