Catholic News 2

Brussels, Belgium, Mar 15, 2017 / 12:12 am (CNA).- Responding to the case of a receptionist fired for wearing a hijab to work, the Court of Justice of the European Union has allowed a qualified ban on religious headscarves in the workplace.“Nobody should be forced to choose between their religion and their profession,” said Adina Portaru, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom International in Brussels. “A court claiming to be a champion of human rights should safeguard the fundamental right to freedom of conscience, religion, and belief rather than undermining it. Citizens’ deeply held convictions should be reasonably accommodated by their employers.”The court ruled that it is not directly discriminatory for a workplace to ban “any political, philosophical or religious sign.” Any ban must be based on internal company rules requiring neutral dress.Samira Achbita, a receptionist working at the 4GS security company in Belgium, filed the ...

Brussels, Belgium, Mar 15, 2017 / 12:12 am (CNA).- Responding to the case of a receptionist fired for wearing a hijab to work, the Court of Justice of the European Union has allowed a qualified ban on religious headscarves in the workplace.

“Nobody should be forced to choose between their religion and their profession,” said Adina Portaru, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom International in Brussels. “A court claiming to be a champion of human rights should safeguard the fundamental right to freedom of conscience, religion, and belief rather than undermining it. Citizens’ deeply held convictions should be reasonably accommodated by their employers.”

The court ruled that it is not directly discriminatory for a workplace to ban “any political, philosophical or religious sign.” Any ban must be based on internal company rules requiring neutral dress.

Samira Achbita, a receptionist working at the 4GS security company in Belgium, filed the suit. She was fired in 2006 when she began to wear a headscarf to work after three years of working at the company, BBC News reports.

The company had followed an “unwritten rule” against overt religious symbols. It later made the rule explicit. The rule covered “any manifestation of such beliefs without distinction.”

The court said a neutral rule would include a ban on crucifixes, skullcaps and turbans.

For Portaru, the decision is “highly problematic.”

“It ultimately allows private businesses to implement rules which violate the fundamental right to freedom of religion,” she said. “It is the court’s duty to accommodate different convictions and beliefs rather than force a so-called neutrality.”

At the same time, the European Court of Justice said that national courts should determine that there is no particular disadvantage for people of a particular religion or belief unless it is “objectively justified by a legitimate aim” and workplace practices follow “appropriate and necessary” practices. It said the Belgian court would have needed to determine whether Achbita could have been offered another position not in sight of customers.

The court rejected specific treatment of religious individuals based on a customer’s complaint, as in a French case where a firm allegedly fired a design engineer after a customer complained about her Islamic headscarf.

Some forms of religious expression in Europe face legal penalties.

A ban on teachers wearing the headscarf was ruled unconstitutional in a German court in 2015. In Austria and the German state of Bavaria, full-face veils are banned in public.

In 2013, four Christian British Airways employees won a legal case in the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled their employer engaged in illegal discrimination for telling them they could not wear their crosses.

 

Full Article

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korean prosecutors said Wednesday they plan to question ousted President Park Geun-hye next week over a corruption scandal that removed her from office, as the government announced that an election will be held on May 9 to pick her successor....

EYL, Somalia (AP) -- Struggling to push his small fishing boat out to sea, Hassan Yasin grumbles over what he and other coastal Somalis call a threat to their way of life: harassment by illegal fishermen and attacks by large foreign trawlers....

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- The closure of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is more than inconvenient; it is costly....

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) -- The Republican health care plan means less money for states and gives them a tough choice: Find a pot of cash to make up the difference or let coverage lapse for millions of lower-income Americans....

BANDAR AL-ROWDAH, Oman (AP) -- The Gulf of Oman turns green twice a year, when an algae bloom the size of Mexico spreads across the Arabian Sea all the way to India....

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Dutch voters cast ballots Wednesday at polling booths across the nation in parliamentary elections that are being closely watched as a possible indicator of the strength of far-right populism ahead of national votes in France and Germany later this year....

The day before it is supposed to go into effect President Donald Trump's revised travel ban will be scrutinized in federal courtrooms across the country on Wednesday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans are working on a companion to their bill replacing "Obamacare," a legislative second act that would ease cross-state sale of health insurance and limit jury awards for pain and suffering in malpractice lawsuits....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Declaring "enough is enough," the top U.S. Marine on Tuesday told senators that he intends to fix the problem that led to current and former Corps members sharing nude photos of female Marines online and making lewd or threatening comments about them....