The EU’s top court on Tuesday ruled that a public administration may ban staff from visibly wearing any sign which reveals philosophical or religious beliefs, in order to create a “neutral administrative environment.”
“Such a rule 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 Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said, according to a press release issued Tuesday.
The ruling refers to the case of a woman from the municipality of Ans in Belgium who took her grievance to a local court, claiming her freedom of religion had been infringed and that she was the victim of discrimination after she was prohibited from wearing an Islamic headscarf in her workplace. After the headscarf decision, the municipality altered its terms of employment to prohibit all workers from wearing overt signs of ideological or religious affiliation.
A court in Liège asked the top court whether this strict neutrality rule imposed by the municipality rose to discrimination contrary to EU law.
The rule “may be regarded as being objectively justified by a legitimate aim,” the court said, but added that an opposite policy authorizing the wearing of religious symbols would also be justified.
“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...
Pakistani actress and model Ayesha Omar has strongly denied a controversial statement falsely attributed to her on social media. In recent days, a statement circulated online claiming that the act...