Erfurt / Berlin (dpa) – According to the Federal Labor Court, the blanket headscarf ban for female teachers anchored in the Berlin Neutrality Act violates the constitution. According to a spokeswoman, the court rejected the revision of the state of Berlin against a judgment of the state labor court on Thursday. This had awarded a Muslim teacher around 5159 euros in compensation in November 2018 because she had not been employed in school because of her headscarf.
The Federal Labor Court decided that the woman was discriminated against because of her religion. Paragraph 2 in the Neutrality Act, which forbids educators at general schools in Berlin not only to wear a headscarf, but also to wear other religious clothing and symbols such as the cross or kippa, must be designed in accordance with the constitution.
According to the Erfurt judges, a general, preventive ban on maintaining school peace is illegal, the spokeswoman explained. Rather, there should be concrete indications of a risk to school peace. The previous regulation violates the religious freedom of teachers.
With its decision, the Federal Labor Court is in line with the Federal Constitutional Court. As early as 2015, this had named concrete dangers to school peace as a prerequisite for a general ban on religious symbols in schools.
Most recently, the Neutrality Act had repeatedly caused controversial debates within the red-red-green coalition. While Education Senator Sandra Scheeres (SPD) considered the law to be constitutional and appropriate, Justice Senator Dirk Behrendt (Greens) took the opposite view.
“In the multi-religious society it must be about what someone has in their head and not on their head,” said Behrendt on Thursday after the judgment. The neutrality law should be changed during this legislative period, he suggested. The conflict should no longer be carried out on the backs of the women concerned. “Berlin can no longer afford to discriminate against suitable teachers.”
On the other hand, Senator for Education Scheeres was disappointed: “We would have liked a different decision,” she said. Many school administrators had told her that in a metropolis as religiously diverse as Berlin it was important to them that the teachers appear neutral. “They are concerned that otherwise conflicts will be carried into the schools.” It is always about the well-being of the students. “We will now wait for the written reasons for the judgment and then check whether we are to file a constitutional complaint on our part,” added Scheeres.
The legal policy spokesman for the Berlin left-wing parliamentary group, Sebastian Schluesselburg, had expected the verdict. “Schools are not an area free of fundamental rights,” he said. “The Senator of Education must now quickly ensure that it is applied in the settings and in the schools.” He also considers an amendment to the Neutrality Act to be necessary for clarification. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency welcomed the judgment. It makes it clear that blanket bans on religious symbols are inadmissible, it said.
In its 2018 ruling, the State Labor Court declared that the Neutrality Act could be interpreted in accordance with the constitution. In the specific individual case, however, no specific danger to school peace or state neutrality was discernible from the headscarf. The court therefore ruled the teacher, who saw herself discriminated against because of her religion, and awarded her compensation of 1.5 times her gross monthly earnings. She now hoped for a higher sum before the Federal Labor Court, but the BAG refused.
Specifically, it is a computer scientist who applied as a so-called lateral entrant for a position in a secondary school, a grammar school or a vocational school. For the vocational school, for which the Neutrality Act does not apply in contrast to general education schools, the plaintiff was rejected with reference to other, more suitable applicants. She received no offer for the other school types.
In recent years, several judgments by labor courts in Berlin had cast doubts on the neutrality law. According to the education administration, another procedure is currently pending due to alleged discrimination against a Muslim teacher.
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