Court allows hospital to fire man for 鈥榯oo long鈥� beard
The Versailles administrative court of appeal has upheld a hospital鈥檚 decision to fire a trainee doctor of Egyptian origin for having 鈥渁 beard that was too long鈥� and 鈥渢oo religious鈥�.
The trainee was fired by the Saint-Denis hospital centre (Seine-Saint-Denis) during his work placement with the surgery department in October 2013, because he had refused to cut his 鈥渋mposing鈥� beard, reports .
The ruling centres on the fact that the hospital judged the beard as long enough to appear as an 鈥渙stentatious display of religious belief鈥�, thus contravening the French principle of 鈥渓a茂cit茅鈥� or secularism: the separation of religion and state.
The man in question had maintained that his religion was 鈥渁 private matter鈥�, but did not deny or confirm that his physical appearance was a way to 鈥渄emonstrate his religious activity鈥�.
The court of appeal agreed with the hospital鈥檚 actions, and judged the man鈥檚 beard to be evidence of his lack of respect for the French principles of la茂cit茅 and neutral public service, even though the trainee had otherwise allegedly shown no other evidence of religion or any other act of worship in the workplace.
The hospital鈥檚 choice to fire him was therefore 鈥渘ot disproportionate鈥�, the court said.
The man鈥檚 lawyer, Nawel Gafsia, called the decision 鈥渟candalous鈥�, 鈥渕ind-boggling鈥�, 鈥渄iscriminatory鈥� and 鈥渞acist鈥�, and motivated by a suspicion for Islam 鈥渂y nature鈥�.
Speaking to FranceInfo, she said: 鈥淭his is a totally subjective interpretation of the so-called 鈥榬eligious鈥� nature of the beard. [This decision] was based on my client鈥檚 refusal [to cut his beard] because [his religion] is a private issue. The hospital would have forced him to say, 鈥楴o, this is not religious鈥�.鈥�
Gafsia added: 鈥淗e is called 鈥楳ohammed鈥�. If he was called 鈥楲ionel Dupont鈥�, he could have had an even longer beard and there would have been no problem.鈥�
The Saint-Denis hospital was not available for comment at the time of writing.
