was fired after she started wearing a full face headscarf was not the
victim of discrimination, an Austrian supreme court has ruled.
The woman, identified only as Gertraud M, sued her workplace when she
was fired for wearing the full veil, which she started wearing after
being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
But the Austrian Supreme court backed the law office employer, who
had argued that its employees needed a visible face for communication
and that the decision was not discrimination.
The woman, from lower Austria, had offered to remove her veil while
dealing with members of the public but was knocked back with the
argument that her communication with office colleagues would also be
affected.
She had previously worn a headscarf but started wearing the full face veil when she got cancer.
She told the court in Vienna:
“I was diagnosed with cancer and was
told I had three months, maybe a year to live. I started to wear the
veil to already be closer to Allah.
“I had considered not doing it because some problems would be
predictable of course but my heart cried afterwards so I started
covering my face.”