Religious dress in state schools · 1 BvR 471/10 and 1 BvR 1181/10
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany · 27 January 2015
Two Muslim women working in state schools in North Rhine-Westphalia challenged employment decisions concerning their head coverings. The rule was defended as a way to preserve school peace and state neutrality. The practical question was whether a school could act on a perceived possibility of conflict alone.
What the court required
For an employee whose religious belief called for covering her head, an abstract possibility of disruption carried too little weight to justify the restriction. The court required a sufficiently concrete danger to school peace or state neutrality under the provision at issue. It also rejected preferential treatment for Christian and Western traditions in that rule. The challenged employment decisions had to be reconsidered under the constitutional standard.
Which facts could change the answer?
A letter describing actual events poses a different question from a circular sent to every employee. Keep the instruction, the stated reason, any warning or dismissal and the school’s account of what occurred. This decision concerned educational staff in interdenominational state schools. A different public function, legal framework or documented conflict needs its own assessment.
Read the court’s order in English
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