Can an employee be fired for wearing a beard with religious connotations ? It is to this thorny question that the Court of Cassation answered by rendering on July 8 a stop relating to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the employee in the company.
In the case decided, an employee, a security consultant of Risk & Co, a company providing security and defense services for governments, international non-governmental organizations or private companies, had been dismissed for serious misconduct, the employer accusing him of wearing a beard "Carved out in a way that is voluntarily meaningful at the double religious and political levels". He considered that this beard " could only be understood as a provocation by [the] client, and as likely to compromise the security of his team and [his] colleagues on site ".
The employee then seized the judges to request the nullity of his dismissal, judging that it was based on a discriminatory ground. The social chamber of the Court of Cassation agreed with him.
A neutrality clause is needed to prohibit the wearing of religious symbols
The highest court of ...
