The Milan appeals court on Thursday ruled a firm was being discriminatory when it refused to hire an Italian woman of Egyptian origins who refused to take off her Islamic veil. The plaintiff, a 24-year-old devout Muslim named Sara from the Milan-area town of Melegnano, was born in Italy of Egyptian parents.
In 2013 she was explicitly excluded from a selection for young women to hand out flyers at the MICAM shoe fair because she said that if hired, she would not be willing to remove her hijab - an Islamic veil covering the hair, ears and neck.
Sara, then a university student, had answered an ad from Imola-based Evolution Events seeking two “hostesses” to hand out flyers on behalf of a company exhibiting at the MICAM fair.
She sent a photo of herself wearing the hijab, and the company asked her in an email whether she would be willing to uncover her hair. She said no, explaining she wore the veil for religious reasons.
When Evolution refused to send her out as a job applicant, Sara sued for discrimination based on religion and gender in the city of Lodi.
Evolution’s defence was that it has the right to select workers based on esthetic and image-related prerequisites. Sara’s lawyers replied that such prerequisites can only legitimately require the applicant to contravene religious precepts in cases when this would be essential to the job, and the sacrifice being imposed must be proportionate to the company’s interests.
The Lodi court turned Sara down, saying the prospective job did not just entail handing out flyers but also making one’s image available, and that image had to conform to the prospective employer’s needs.
Today the Milan appeals court overturned the lower court in Lodi and sentenced Evolution to pay Sara 500 euros in damages. “This is a very important ruling, because it recognizes that the right to religious identity is an essential element of democratic societies and must always be guaranteed, including when it entails the sacrifice of an employer’s other but not as relevant requirements - such as esthetic ones”.
Sara, meanwhile, has moved to London.