.... in 2008, Fatima Afif was fired from her job at the private Baby-Loup nursery school in Paris suburb Chanteloup-les-Vignes after she refused to remove her veil while at work.
In April 2013, after years of legal wrangles and appeals, the Court of Cassation (France’s highest court) ruled that Afif was unfairly fired and was a victim of “religious discrimination”, arguing that because Baby-Loup was a private institution, France’s strict secularism rules did not apply.
It also ordered the nursery school to pay Afif a fine of 2,500 euros.
The decision overturned a ruling by an employment tribunal in 2010 – upheld in appeals the following year – that found Baby-Loup had acted legally when it fired Afif in December 2008 on the grounds of serious misconduct.
France’s chief prosecutor François Falletti said on Monday that he considered the nursery school “within its rights to enforce religious neutrality”. [FRANCE 24] Read more
