ERFURT,
Germany, October 10 (News Agencies) - A Muslim shop assistant, who was
fired by her German employers for wanting to wear a headscarf at work,
was wrongly dismissed, a court ruled Thursday, October 10, stressing it
was part of her right to religious freedom.
The
30-year-old Turkish-born employee was fired when, nearing the end of her
maternity leave in 1999, she announced she wanted to wear a headscarf
for religious reasons, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Her
employers, the only department store in the small town of Schluechtern,
western Germany, said it breached their dress code and argued her
headscarf might anger their "conservative and rural"
customers.
They
sacked her despite her 10-year work record for the company, most
recently in the perfumery department, said AFP.
A
lower court had upheld the sacking on the grounds that the woman had
known what the rules were.
The
federal employment tribunal in Erfurt, eastern Germany, ruled that while
an employer could stipulate a dress code, it still had to respect basic
rights such as freedom of religion.
In
contrast, a Muslim teacher lost a similar case in July over a headscarf.
In that ruling, the courts argued that state schools had to remain free
of all religious symbols.
