Just a piece of cloth? German courts and employees with headscarves

Dagmar Schiek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

On 10 October 2002, and on 24 September 2003, the German Federal Labour Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court each delivered a decision on the consequences of wearing a headscarf for employees. Both courts appeared to protect the individual rights of the woman in question. The Federal Labour Court invalidated the dismissal of a salesperson based on the wearing of a headscarf; the Federal Constitutional Court held that a school teacher must not be denied employment on grounds of wearing a headscarf. However, both courts also left some room for manoeuvre in favour of clothing policies or laicism principles which could be used to justify head-scarf bans. This note discussed the potential and drawback of these cases, especially as regards intersectional inequalities along the lines of gender, religion and ethnicity.
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)68-73
Number of pages6
JournalIndustrial Law Journal
Volume33
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2004

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