News
Muslim woman discriminated against for not wearing headscarf
15 December 2010
An employment tribunal found in favour of Miss Khan an employee of Go Go Estate who was dismissed for not wearing a headscarf. It found that she was directly discriminated against on grounds of her non belief and also sex discrimination.
Miss Khan, a British Pakistani, identifies with the Muslim religion but is non-practicing, - she does not attend Mosque, pray regularly or cover her hair. Her employer Mr Ghafoor, is a practising Muslim. Mr Ghafoor asked Miss Khan on two occasions whether she would wear a headscarf to work as it would make him feel better about having a Muslim woman working in the office. Mr Ghafoor subsequently dismissed
Miss Khan, explaining although she had not done anything wrong at work, friends had gossiped about how westernised she looked because she did not wear a headscarf and were implying that she was not respectable.
Miss Khan's gender played a part in the decision to dismiss her for failing to cover her hair. The covering of hair is an expression of female modesty, and Mr Ghafoor would not have treated a male employee in the same way. The tribunal also upheld her religious belief discrimination claim. Mr Ghafoor did not require his female, non-Muslim employees to cover their hair. Requiring Miss Khan to comply was because she identified herself with the Muslim faith. Her refusal to wear the headscarf, was due to her lack of belief that her religion required her to do so.