Law Allowing Employers to Ban Religious Symbols at Workplace in Germany Confirmed by European Court of Justice

Case information
Incident date
Geographic scope
Country unknown
Place
Kirchberg, Luxembourg
Categories
  • Government Restrictions
Attack Against
  • Faith
Societal Sphere
  • Governmental
  • Workplace
Religious Freedom / Discrimination
  • Censorship or Removal of Public Christian Symbols
  • Freedom of Religion
Place of Incident
  • Government Building
Bias Indicators
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
  • Victim/Witness Perception
Reported to Police
  • No
Response of Local Authorities
  • Unknown
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

The EU's European Court of Justice ruled that employers are allowed to ban visible religious symbols from their businesses, i.e. they are allowed to forbid their employees to wear crosses and headscarves. In its ruling, the Luxembourg-based tribunal stated its member states should weigh up if the ban corresponded to a "genuine need" on the part of the employer, especially since it potentially interferes with the employees' rights to freedom of religion. The case came to court after two Islamic-identifying women in Germany filed legal complaints against their workplaces for interfering with their beliefs. Subsequently, the case was brought in front of the European Court of Justice ruling on the legitimacy of the national legislation.

Since, the rulings of the European Court of Justice have are of a binding character for member states, these rulings on principal judicial questions often sets precedence cases for future legislation or cases in other member states. Consequently, this can mean that because of this ruling and the principal of equality among different religions, Christians would also no longer be allowed to publicly war or show any Christian symbol, like a necklace with a cross, at their workplace if the employer forbids it.

Sources