Two Muslim women were in a teaching internship and, despite demands, would not shake hands with their male supervisor.
When two female Muslim student teachers refused to shake hands with a male internship supervisor back in 2019, they were summoned to a meeting and their internship was immediately stopped. And that was completely by the book, the Eastern High Court ruled in a ruling. The High Court has acquitted Egelund School and Albertslund Municipality in the case, which were initially supposed to pay compensation to the women.
The law firm Poul Schmith – Kammeradvokaten announced in a press release on Wednesday the decision from the High Court, which, however, was made all the way back at the end of May.
It was the school and Albertslund Municipality that had brought a decision from the Equal Treatment Board to the High Court. Following a complaint from the women, the board had assessed that the women had been subjected to so-called indirect discrimination on the basis of their religion and belief. On this basis, they were each awarded compensation of 25,000 kroner. The attorney general has represented the Equal Treatment Board in the case and states that a decision has not yet been made as to whether the judgment should be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The case itself was about the women not wanting to shake hands with the internship supervisor for religious reasons because he was a man. They were called to a meeting at the school – only one of the women attended. The school stated at the meeting that it required the two women to shake hands with all people regardless of gender. They would not comply, and thus their internship was a thing of the past.
According to the Attorney General, two out of the three judges in the Eastern High Court have assessed that the requirement to shake hands with everyone was both objective, appropriate and necessary in relation to complying with the municipality’s values: equal treatment, neutrality and professionalism. The latter implies a requirement to shake hands if the situation requires it.
The judges also emphasized that the Primary School Act requires that primary schools be characterized by freedom of thought, equality and democracy. The third district judge, however, voted to grant the Equal Treatment Board and thus the women’s case. The district judge assessed that the municipality’s handshake requirement did not meet the condition of being necessary.
ritzau
