The ban on wearing an Islamic headscarf in the workplace does not constitute discrimination. To establish it is the EU Court of Justice, speaking on the case of a Muslim woman, fired in France for refusing to remove the veil at work. The ruling clarifies that the ban is legitimate if it derives from an internal regulation of a private company which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign in the workplace. The case in point is that of Samira Achbit, hired in 2003 as a receptionist by the G4S company in Belgium and fired in 2006, after refusing not to wear the headscarf.
An internal provision of this kind, according to the Court, "does not imply a difference in treatment directly based on religion or personal beliefs". However, it could represent an "indirect" discrimination, if it is demonstrated that the obligation to dress neutrally entails a particular disadvantage for people who adhere to a particular religion or ideology.
An indirect discrimination which, reading the sentence again, "can be objectively justified by a legitimate aim, such as the pursuit, by the employer, of a policy of political, philosophical and religious neutrality in relations with customers", as in case on which the European Court of Justice ruled.
