Last April, the Discrimination Ombudsman (DO) sued an airline for enforcing a uniform policy that does not allow religious symbols and argued that an exception had to be made for the Muslim headscarf. A few weeks ago, the case was settled, resulting in a woman receiving 75,000 kronor.

On her first day of training, the woman was made aware that the company has a neutrality policy that everyone must adhere to, but she refused and instead turned to DO.

DO sided with the woman, arguing that the airline had discriminated against her by not making an exception in the rules specifically for the Muslim headscarf. DO also assisted in suing the company.

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The airline disagreed with the accusation of discrimination, emphasizing that the rules apply to everyone and are in place to avoid tensions among employees and between employees and customers. The neutrality policy aims to maintain and demonstrate religious, political, and ideological neutrality.

DO argued that “the regulations are not designed to support a desire to achieve general neutrality, but only aim to prevent the wearing of religious symbols”.

Even if the regulations were considered to express a desire to demonstrate neutrality, according to DO, it constitutes discrimination because in this case it is not appropriate and necessary to achieve a legitimate goal.

– A uniform policy that prohibits religious symbols has particularly negative effects on Muslim women who wear headscarves for religious reasons. In a balancing of interests, gender equality in the labor market and individual religious freedom must therefore be weighed against the employer’s interests, and in such a balancing, gender equality and religious freedom must weigh heavily,” said Discrimination Ombudsman Lars Arrhenius in April 2024.

At the same time, the agency requested that the airline pay 150,000 kronor in compensation for discrimination to the woman.

The airline pays

In a press release on December 19, DO announced that the case was lucrative for the woman as they had managed to get the airline to pay her. However, when Samnytt contacted DO to verify the final amount, it became clear that it was only half of what had been claimed earlier.

According to the agency, the airline has now admitted to discrimination.

– Prohibition of religious symbols risks excluding Muslim women from the labor market, which we see as very serious, and therefore we are pleased that the company in this case has admitted that the woman has been discriminated against,” said Sandra Danowsky, a lawyer at DO’s legal department.

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