argomento: News del mese - Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario

Articoli Correlati: Work and social security - Religious symbols - legitimacy prohibition

On 13 October 2022, the E.U. Court of Justice, with the sentence relating to case n° C-344/20 ruled on the case of a spontaneous application for an internship that was not taken into consideration due to the candidate’s refusal to comply with the rule of internal neutrality imposed on company employees, a rule which prohibited the manifestation, in the workplace, of one’s religious, philosophical or political beliefs of any kind, in particular through clothing. For the Court, the company’s decision to prohibit employees from demonstrating their religious or philosophical beliefs, of any kind, verbally, with clothing or in any other way, does not constitute direct discrimination “based on religion or personal beliefs “, pursuant to Directive 2000/78, provided that this provision is applied in a general and indiscriminate manner, i.e. that the prohibition applies to all religious confessions, i.e. to everyone. On one hand, the Court recognizes that a policy of political, philosophical or religious neutrality is a legitimate aim that falls within the freedom to conduct a business, on the other it affirms that it must be supported by a real need of the employer, demonstrable by him: the decision is inspired by the intention of encouraging tolerance, respect and acceptance of diversity, avoiding that the creation of a policy of neutrality within the company ends up harming employees who respect religious precepts which require them to wear a specific outfit.