A Muslim woman refused to shake a male interviewer’s hand for religious reasons during a job interview. She placed her hand over her heart and explained her reasons. The recruitment process was then canceled, as the company had a policy which required employees to shake hands with both men and women. The Swedish Equality Ombudsman claimed that the cancellation was an indirect discrimination of Muslims who refuse to shake hand with a person of an opposite sex. The Swedish Labor Court first established that the right to refuse a handshake on religious grounds is protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. The court further found that the handshake policy was neither appropriate nor necessary to achieve its justified purpose (promoting gender equality at the workplace). The court ordered the company to pay the woman SEK 40,000 in damages.
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