Berlin must not ban teachers wearing headscarves across the board

A woman in a headscarf at a school

Berlin must not ban teachers from wearing a headscarf (symbol photo) Photo: picture alliance/dpa

From BZ/dpa

The state of Berlin must not ban teachers from wearing headscarves across the board.

The Federal Constitutional Court did not accept an appeal by the State of Berlin against a corresponding judgment by the Federal Labor Court. That had already happened on January 17, a spokesman for the Karlsruhe court said on Wednesday evening. The Catholic News Agency had previously reported.

This calls into question the controversial neutrality law, which also enshrines the headscarf ban. It prohibits teachers and other educators at public schools in Berlin from wearing religious symbols on duty. This can be a headscarf, but also a cross or a kippah.

The Federal Labor Court had already questioned the regulation in August 2020. The court awarded a Muslim woman who was not accepted into the school service because of her headscarf compensation of around 5,159 euros because she had been discriminated against because of her religion. It thus confirmed a decision by the State Labor Court in November 2018, against which the state had appealed.

The education senate administration initially did not comment on Wednesday evening.

Subjects:

headscarf

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