"Employers can ban staff from wearing headscarves, European court rules", 14 Mar 2017

Employers may bar staff from wearing visible religious symbols, the European Union’s top court has ruled in its first decision on the issue of women wearing Islamic headscarves at work...“An internal rule of an undertaking which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination,”...[T]he ECJ ruled that a company’s wish to project a neutral image was legitimate and allowed internal rules banning political, philosophical or religious symbols...Samira Achbita had been a receptionist for the Belgian branch of G4S, the London-listed outsourcing and security company...Achbita was fired in June 2006 for refusing to take off her scarf.  The company said she had broken unwritten rules prohibiting religious symbols...Asma Bougnaoui was fired from an IT consultancy firm, Micropole, following a complaint from a customer who claimed his staff had been “embarrassed” by her headscarf...“The court of justice finds that G4S’s internal rule refers to the wearing of visible signs of political, philosophical or religious beliefs and therefore covers any manifestation of such beliefs without distinction...”...