France's High Court Rules Private School Cannot Fire Muslim Teacher For Wearing Hijab

According to France 24, yesterday the Social Chamber of the Cour de Cassation (France's highest court) ruled that a private nursery school discriminated on the basis of religious belief against a Muslim teacher when it fired her for refusing to remove her hijab while at work. The court held that the principle of secularism established by the French constitution does not apply to private employers, so it cannot be invoked to deprive private employees of the anti-discrimination protections of France's Labor Code. The court ordered the school to pay a fine of 2500 Euros to the fired teacher, Fatima Afif. The court issued a Communique (full text in French) summarizing its decision as well as a decision in a companion case in which it held that the principle of secularism and neutrality did justify dismissing a public service employee for wearing a hijab. According to the court, the prohibition on manifesting religious beliefs by external signs, particularly clothing, applies even to employees providing a public service through a private employer. The employee involved worked for a city's health insurance fund.