2023-12-05 08:06:00
The week’s debate around the authorization of the wearing of convictional symbols in Anderlecht has unleashed passions. Behind the speeches, ideas and statistics are also hidden life stories, like that of Loubna, a 32-year-old from Saint-Gilles now living in Flanders. Last spring, the young woman, an accounting graduate with ten years of experience, applied for a position as head of department in the municipality of Schaerbeek.
This is a first in Brussels: Anderlecht authorizes the wearing of convictional symbols in the administration
Her first test passed with flying colors, she was then called for a job interview on May 3 in the presence of the financial director, his assistant, and HR. “And there, I am asked to enter, to avoid wasting time, if I am ready to remove my veil.” Loubna declined, and received a letter a few weeks later explaining that she was not selected. Deep down, she knows that she had more than enough skills for the job, but that’s not what put her at a disadvantage that day.
“Because of my veil, I can never be head of department,” she gets annoyed, giving other examples. A law firm on Avenue Louise had offered me a job, but they had a select clientele and wanted me to remove my veil in front of them. When I refused, they even offered to increase my gross salary by 500 euros to convince me…”
Un turban fashion
On the side of the municipality of Schaerbeek, we are assured that they understand the situation but the regulation is made in this way. Same story for Unia which was contacted by the worker, “they would wait for several similar cases to be reported”. In reality, Loubna mainly has the feeling that her case was taken carelessly. “Why is it that during my written interviews, my veil does not pose a problem, and that I am only told this during the oral interview? Besides, it wasn’t even a veil, but a fashion turban. Some non-Muslim friends wear the same one and it doesn’t pose a problem. My veil is the barometer of my faith.”
Schaerbeek replied that she was invited to the interview after her written test “because we have a non-discriminatory recruitment policy, we cannot prevent someone from applying. Our policy is open, but there is a regulation.”
Wearing the veil in Anderlecht: elected officials threatened
For Loubna, the resolution of the situation will be political or it will not be. In a similar case which is shaking the commune of Ans, the European Court of Justice has issued an opinion requested by the Liège labor court. “Such a rule is not discriminatory if it is applied in a general and undifferentiated manner to all the personnel of this administration and is limited to what is strictly necessary,” wrote the Court. This is not, however, a total ban, since it also explains that “each Member State and any infra-state entity within the framework of its competences have a margin of appreciation in the conception of the neutrality of the public service that they intend to promote in the workplace, depending on their own context”.
For the record, the municipality of Schaerbeek studied the issue of wearing the veil in its municipal administration, before freezing the reflection.
1701767945
#Loubna #rejected #position #Schaerbeek #wears #veil #department