Women denied job in a pharmacy because of headscarf
The NGO ZARA reports the following incident “Ms D is Muslim of Turkish descent and wears a headscarf. She is studying to be a pharmacist and will shortly complete her studies. She is currently seeking a position at a pharmacy, but from 70 applications that she has sent out since January she has received 65 rejections. In the case of half of these rejections she was informed on further inquiry that her headscarf had contributed to the decision.
When she applied by e-mail to a pharmacy in February she was told that they were interested however would she be willing to remove the headscarf at work? They had a similar understanding with a Turkish employee who was already working there. When Ms D made clear that this was something that she was not comfortable doing the pharmacy broke off contact with her.
Ms D felt that she had been discriminated against on grounds of her religion and contacted ZARA (Civil Courage and Anti-Racism Work). After having the legal options explained, Ms D decided to take her case to the Equal Treatment Commission as these discriminatory practices affect many Muslim people.” The Equal Treatment Commission decided that the incident didn't constitute to be a discrimination according to the Austrian Equal Treatment Act.
Source: http://www.zara.or.at/_wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ZaraReport_09Engl.pdf; http://www.frauen.bka.gv.at/DocView.axd?CobId=42386
