CJEU Permits States to Ban Headscarves in Workplace [1]
On July 15, 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled [3] in favor of permitting workplaces to prohibit the wearing of articles of clothing that display religious or political alignment. The issue in IX and MH Müller Handels GmbH v. WABE eV and MJ originated from an incident involving two female employees that refused to remove their dressings that indicated their identity as practicing Muslims. Two exterior courts (Labour Court of Hamburg and the Federal Labour Court of Germany) sought the perspective of the CJEU to determine whether the termination of their employment was justifiable and in accordance with EU law. One was let go from a daycare center, and the other from a drugstore company. Both women made similar arguments regarding religious freedom and discrimination, but the Court held that if workplace guidelines issue this policy for all dressings, then it cannot be considered prejudicial or unjustifiable. This was, however, not applicable to cases of professional settings specifically banning “conspicuous large-sized signs of political, philosophical or religious beliefs,” which would be considered targeting and constitute a violation of personal liberties. The Court stated that if this “rule is applied in a general and undifferentiated way”, then these professional spaces were entitled to enforce this policy. Other incidents have paralleled this one in neighboring countries. As reported by JURIST [4], the Austrian Constitutional Court determined that restricting headscarves from being worn on elementary school grounds was considered an infringement on equalized religious practice in December of 2020.