The role of the Court in modelling the standard of equal treatment in employment: Analysis of the judgment of the Court of Justice in case C-344/20

Abstract

The aim of this commentary is to analyse the judgment of the Court of Justice in L.F. v. S.C.R.L., in which the Court analysed provisions of the Equal Treatment Directive (2000/78) in light of the general prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief. The main proceedings in the case analysed concerned a Muslim woman who wore an Islamic headscarf and was doing an office internship at S.C.R.L., a cooperative limited liability company. Due to the neutrality policy at work, she was unable to manifest her religion and brought an action for a prohibitory injunction before a domestic court. In preliminary ruling, the Court decided that she was not a victim of discrimination. The F.L. judgment is a continuation of the Court’s line of judicial decisions in cases G4S and WABE referred to before. The article analyses the current case law of the CJEU and ECHR that touches on the problem of the expression of religious belief and seeks the answer to the question: Which value is more important to be protected in contemporary European society – the identity of the person or the freedom to conduct a business?