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ARTICLE REVIEW
The author presents different cases on how the employer asked the
Muslim employee to remove the headscarves that resulted to be dismissed from
their job when they declined. Like for example into the cases of a Belgian
woman who was fired from her job as a receptionist at a security company after
she started wearing a headscarf, and of a French IT consultant who was told to
remove her scarf after a client complained, and then dismissed when she
declined. In both cases, the ECJ suggested that national courts needed to
investigate further to establish whether the women had been discriminated
against. In the Belgian case, the court recommended working out if there might
have been a simpler solution such as transferring the employee to a role where
she was not in contact with the public. Moreover, regarding the French
consultant, it considered it necessary to establish whether the disciplinary
action was purely a response to the client’s whim (which appeared to be the
case and would be insufficient grounds for a dismissal) or a legitimate
consequence of a broader policy. Taken as a whole, the ECJ decided to up held
the right of employers to enforce ideological neutrality in the workplace as long
as it was done fairly and consistently.