The European Union’s top court found that businesses in member states can prohibit employees from wearing headscarves if they “need to offer a neutral image to customers.”
On Thursday, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) handed down its decision in two instances brought by Muslim women who had been fired from their employment in Germany because they wore the headscarf.
“A ban on wearing any visible form of expression of political, philosophical, or religious convictions in the workplace may be justified by the employer’s duty to create a neutral image to consumers or to avert societal difficulties,” the court wrote.
The court stated that “such rationale must correspond to a genuine necessity on the part of the employer,” and that national tribunals could consider member states’ unique circumstances, including “more favorable national rules on the protection of religious freedom.”
Under certain circumstances, the CJEU declared in 2017 that employers might prohibit employees from wearing headscarves and other visible religious symbols.
