Unijne podejście do eksponowania przez zatrudnionych symboli religijnych w miejscu pracy

Abstract

EU Approach to Display of Religious Symbols in the Workplace by Employees

The author analyzes the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the principle of treatment, the prohibition of displaying any visible religious, ideological and religious symbols in the workplace. It determines that the introduction of internal legal regulations by entrepreneurs prohibiting the wearing of visible religious, ideological and political symbols in the workplace shall not be considered as cases of direct discrimination on the basis of the above-mentioned criteria: religion, belief and politics. A necessary condition for the effectiveness of in-company regulation is that employers apply it to employees in a general manner and without distinction. Different indirect treatment of employees due to religion and religious beliefs, is justified by the intention of the entrepreneur to conduct towards clients and users is the policy of religious, ideological and political neutrality. Indirect discrimination in matters of religion, belief and politics may be justified in the workplace when the prohibitions introduced by the entrepreneur prohibited all visible forms of expressing religious, ideological and political beliefs. Direct discrimination based on religion, world view and politics may be sanctioned by the employer when it is more conspicuous. When establishing the standards for the protection of religious freedom, one should take into account the possibility of using national provisions for the protection of religious freedom, more favorable than the EU protection rules.

Key words: permissibility of wearing religious symbols in the workplace, direct and indirect discrimination, politics, religion, worldview, policy of neutrality, symbols, internal rules of the workplace, prohibitions on wearing Islamic headscarves