The European Court of Justice allowed religious-symbol bans only if applied generally

Evidence

In March 2017, right-wing politicians across Europe welcomed a ruling by the EU’s highest court which allowed companies to effectively ban employees from wearing visible religious symbols, including hijabs. In its first decision on the issue of women wearing Islamic headscarves in the workplace, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg had ruled that religious garments could be banned; but only as part of a general policy barring all religious and political symbols. — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 458

Categorization

• XREF: This EU legal ruling connects to European Islamophobia threads in the wider New Crusades / Kumar cluster. — connects to: French law formally banned all conspicuous religious symbols but targeted Muslim headscarves in practice. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 611; The Supreme Court ruled religious accommodation duties apply even without explicit requests — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 437; Belgian courts endorsed France’s ban on religious headscarves (+2 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 458

Related

• Sri Lankan courts apply anti-proselytizing rules only to Christian groups (similarity 0.85)
• French law formally banned all conspicuous religious symbols but targeted Muslim headscarves in practice. (similarity 0.83)
• Belgian courts adopted France’s framing of the hijab as outside religious freedom (similarity 0.81)
• Belgium’s court held hijab bans compatible with European human rights law (similarity 0.80)
• France’s 2003 hijab ban launched Europe’s wave of anti-Muslim dress laws (similarity 0.79)
• France’s hijab laws seeded copycat bans in Quebec, Belgium, and other European nations. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Belgian courts endorsed France’s ban on religious headscarves #qualifies (0.60)