European companies can prohibit Muslims from wearing headscarves at work as long as they also forbid other religious symbols, according to a top legal adviser to the European Court of Justice. “While an employee cannot leave his sex, skin color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or disability at the door upon setting foot on his employer’s premises, he may be expected to curb the exercise of his religion in the workplace,”
Juliane Kokott, German Advocate General at the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg, said in a statement on Tuesday. She added, that such a ban “may […] be justified in order to enforce a legitimate policy of religious and ideological neutrality pursued by the employer.” The ban must therefore become “a general company rule” concerning any religious symbols for it to be “proportional.” READ MORE
