The manager of a Geox store in Strasbourg refused to work for a temporary worker because of the Islamic veil which she refused to remove. Filmed by the person concerned, the sequence was viewed more than a million times on Tik Tok and X, triggering a flood of insults.
The European court had already issued a decision to this effect in 2021 affirming that the “prohibition on the wearing of any visible expression of political, philosophical or religious convictions” could be justified by the need to project an image of neutrality. The CJEU did not accept this specific specific conclusion, however, and said that the employer is also free, within the framework of freedom of enterprise, to prohibit wearing of large, ostentatious signs and signs of religious belief. The French law, the private employer has the right to impose a dress code or to prohibit the wearing. of certain clothing, particularly in the commercial sector, but under certain very specific conditions, the CJEU said in October 2022.