Companies may ban Muslim employees from wearing a headscarf under certain conditions, the European Union's top court said on Thursday, in two cases brought by Muslim women in Germany who were suspended from their jobs after they started wearing the Islamic garment.
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"A prohibition on wearing any visible form of expression of political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace may be justified by the employer's need to present a neutral image towards customers or to prevent social disputes," the court said.
Both Muslim women – a special need carer at a childcare center in Hamburg run by a charitable association, and a cashier at the Mueller drugstore chain – had not been wearing headscarves when they started in their jobs, but decided to do so years later after coming back from parental leave.
They were told by their respective employer that this was not allowed, and were at different points either suspended, told to come to work without it or put on a different job, court documents show.
In a 2017 ruling, the EU court in Luxembourg had already said that companies may ban staff from wearing Islamic headscarves and other visible religious symbols under certain conditions.
