Government offices in the EU can prohibit employees from wearing religious symbols such as Islamic headscarves even if they have no contact with the public, the EU Court of Justice ruled on November 28, Euractiv informed.
The court concluded that such a rule could be implemented “in order to put in place an entirely neutral administrative environment”. The judgement was based on a lawsuit filed by a Belgian local government employee who challenged a ban on the Islamic headscarf, arguing that it infringed on her freedom of religion and that she suffered discrimination.
The Court in Luxembourg stated that the prohibition “of any sign revealing philosophical or religious beliefs (…) 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.”
The judgement applies to public institutions across the EU and confirms previous decisions of EU courts which have ruled that such bans can be lawful in private sector workplaces.
“Each member state, and any infra-state body within the framework of its competences, has a margin of discretion in designing the neutrality of the public service which it intends to promote in the workplace, depending on its own context. However, that objective must be pursued in a consistent and systematic manner, and the measures adopted to achieve it must be limited to what is strictly necessary.”
