Balancing Religious Expression in the Workplace: A Legal Analysis of Eweida v. British Airways from the UK Employment Tribunal to the European Court of Human Rights
by Ahmet Said Aydil
Question(s) at stake
Whether a company’s uniform policy prohibiting its employees from visibly wearing necklaces with religious symbols constitutes unlawful discrimination on grounds of religion.
Outcome of the ruling
Ms Eweida’s complaints regarding religious discrimination, encompassing direct, indirect, and harassment-related claims, were dismissed by the Employment Tribunal. However, the tribunal noted that while the uniform policy’s aim was legitimate, its implementation was disproportionate.
Country:
Official citation
Eweida v British Airways Plc [2007] UKET 2702689/06
Topic(s)
Keywords:
Attire Religious and cultural symbols Cross Private sector
Tag(s):
Bibliographic information
Access case report
View case report in the CUREDI databaseAbout the authors
Ahmet Said Aydil (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Department Law and Anthropology, Germany)
Ahmet Said Aydil is a PhD Candidate in the Law and Anthropology Department at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkiye). Following his graduation, he completed his legal internship, working in areas such as commercial law, international arbitration law, criminal law, and administrative law. In 2020 he passed the Turkish Bar and became a licensed attorney.
Aydil also holds an LLM from the Europa Institute, Saarland University, in International and European Human Rights Protection Law and European Economic Law. Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Thomas Giegrich, his master’s thesis analysed the decline in human rights commitmens in Europe, driven by the rise of populist politics and the mishandling of the refugee influx of 2015, and evaluated potential remedies at the European Union and Council of Europe levels. His current research falls within the framework of the database project “Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe” (CUREDI) at the MPI.