Belgium: department store fires worker for wearing headscarf

A Hema store in the Belgian-Limburg town of Genk fired one of its temporary workers for wearing a headscarf, the Flemish paper theStandaard reports on Tuesday.

The woman had asked if she could wear a headscarf and was told she could, but following negative reactions from customers, was asked to remove it. When she refused, she was fired. There were no complaints about her work, the paper says.

The woman, described as not being of foreign origin, was sent to the Hema by temp agency Randstad. It told the paper it was the client’s decision whether or not to keep one of their workers.

Dutch News, 8 March 2011