Employers will be able to ban staff from wearing 'political, philosophical or religious' symbols such as crosses, a European court has ruled, in a decision welcomed by right-wing politicians but criticised by some religious leaders.
The European Court of Justice ruled that employers are not allowed to target particular religions. But they are allowed to have a general policy forbidding the wearing of religious symbols.
The case was brought by two Muslim women, one in France and the other in Belgium, who had been fired from their jobs because they insisted on wearing the hijab (head covering).
