What HR needs to know about prohibiting religious wear at work

Religious wear, and religion, in the workplace has been hitting the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons.

Last week a woman, Swedish citizen Ruya El Hattawi, had a job offer for spice and condiment giant Santa Maria revoked after a recruitment firm informed her she could not wear her head scarf as it violated employer policy.

Speaking of the withdrawal of the employment offer, she said: “A few weeks later I received another call from the recruitment agency, who said they had a bit of bad news.

“Santa Maria had double checked their hygiene policy and therefore couldn’t employ me [if I wore a head scarf].