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[emmelinemay]

More from the newspapers - from sad to FURIOUS.

Muslim hairdresser who wears a scarf wins £4000 for 'hurt feelings' after being turned down for a job in a super trendy salon

She wouldn't have got that job headscarf or not, quite frankly. It's really near my work, and all the people that work in there are alternative trendy types. So now you're no longer allowed to refuse people jobs if they won't fit in? We can all sue potential employers when we have a bad interview for 'hurt feelings'???

This was nothing to do with discrimination. This is a stupid girl in totally the wrong profession. She was apparently turned down TWENTY FIVE TIMES in total, it was just that this one salon owner was honest enough to mention what all the rest were thinking - how can you be a HAIR STYLIST if you believe your hair should be covered in public??

I am actually incoherent with rage over this issue. I am pretty sure I mentioned it here when the news first broke, but can't find my entry on it.

The tribunal found no religious discrimination, no unfair discrimination, they even accepted thatone of the reasons the head-scarf girl was turned down was that she lived too far away from the salon. And yet, £4000 for HURT FEELINGS???

emperor_tamarin sums up with this comment:
Headline should be: "Self righteous teenager gets payout for belonging to minority religious group that everyone is afraid of offending."

EDIT - Here's the website for Wedge, with some pictures of the stylists.
http://www.wedgehair.co.uk/Pages/Gallery.html
Note - the owner trained at Children Of Vision - some of you will remember their salon upstairs at Kensington Market. This girl would not have got a job there, headscarf or otherwise.

Comments

[littleangel-103.livejournal.com]

No you're not alone ant_girl I agree with you on every point. Why does someone's personal beliefs on whether to uncover their hair to strangers or not effect their ability to style someone elses hair? After all I've had my hair cut by people who, if I judged them on their hairstyles, I'd send back to a "My first hair model" toy until they can do something properly.

The racism of the commentary on this case astounds me. Lets review it shall we - person applies for job, person is told her religious beliefs are some or whole of reason why she isn't apponted, person sues under equal rights legislation. I don't see what the problem is - she has freedom of religious expression in this country, it doesn't affect whether or not she can cut hair.

[emmelinemay.livejournal.com]

You guys need to re-read the article.

The tribunal accepted that there was NO GROUNDS for the claim of religious discrimination WHATSOEVER.

The money is for HURT FEELINGS and nothing more. That's the ridiculous thing.

Employers are well within their right to turn down an employee who isn't a 'good fit' for their company, and this is what the salon owner did, and the tribunal accepted this.

The girl originally claimed for £35,000 for religious discrimination, which was thrown out.

[robtrooper.livejournal.com]

The salon owner never mentioned religion as being all or part of the reason.
The wearing of a headscarf is still a choice for the woman not a religious requirement. There are many muslim women who don't wear the scarf.

At the end of the day it is the choice of the muslim girl if she does this or not. She could have chosen to put the scarf down during work hours.
I admire her for sticking to her guns but i think she was unfair to the salon owner.

[jaketherat.livejournal.com]

She felt that her religious views prevented her from engaging in an act (ie displaying her hair in public) which the potential employer felt was an essential aspect of the job. Does this mean she should be given the job anyway, because it's a religious belief which is somehow inviolable? The employer's concerns might seem trivial, because after all it's hairdressing, which is not (usually) a matter of life and death, but there are plenty of situations analogous to this (perhaps a Jehovah's Witness applying for a job in a blood donation clinic) in which someone's refusal to perform a function of their job on religious grounds means they can't do the job. We have freedom of religious expression in this country but we also have a free market model for employment. If there's something about you which makes you less appropriate for the job than another candidate, you can expect not to get the job.

Also Islam is not a race.