The Berlin Labor Court had ruled - and last May dismissed the compensation claims of two teachers wearing a headscarf. They claimed that they had been disadvantaged because of their religion.
The court relied on the Berlin-based Neutrality Act, which prohibits police officers, judiciary staff and general education teachers from wearing religiously printed garments on duty.
On Tuesday, the Landesarbeitsgericht Berlin awarded one of the two plaintiffs a compensation (file reference 7 Sa 963/18) . She gets one and a half monthly salaries, according to the spokesman are 5159 euros.
The woman had applied as a career changer with computer science studies at a secondary school, a high school or a vocational school. For the vocational school, for which the law of neutrality, unlike general schools, does not apply, the applicant was rejected with reference to other, more suitable candidates. For the other school types, the plaintiff did not receive an offer.
The regional labor court found that the woman had been disadvantaged in this situation within the meaning of the General Equal Treatment Act. For in the job interview it was gone from the beginning to her headscarf.
In the video: My headscarf - Muslima on YouTube
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Nevertheless, the court did not question the neutrality law. It was constitutionally interpretable. In the specific case, however, no specific danger to the school peace or the state neutrality was recognized by the headscarf, so the court.
Berlin wants to appeal
Berlin wants to appeal the ruling appeal before the Federal Labor Court, as the lawyer of the country, Seyran Ates, announced.
Three years ago, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned a sweeping headscarf ban in schools and stressed the importance of religious freedom. Since then, each federal state has developed different regulations on how to deal with Muslim teachers in schools.