A Muslim woman who was turned down at a job interview in Sweden after refusing to shake hands with male colleagues for religious reasons has won a discrimination case in the Swedish Labor Court and will receive over $4,300 as compensation, local media reported on Wednesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2018) A Muslim woman who was turned down at a job interview in Sweden after refusing to shake hands with male colleagues for religious reasons has won a discrimination case in the Swedish Labor Court and will receive over $4,300 as compensation, local media reported on Wednesday.
The Local reported in April 2017 that the Swedish discrimination ombudsman sued a company over a handshaking issue demanding the firm to pay some $9,000 in damages to the female.
According to the newspaper, the company said the refusal to shake hands with colleagues of the opposite sex was in breach of its policy to treat all colleagues equally but stressed that germophobia and autism were legitimate reasons for not shaking hands.
"There is no reason to perceive (it) [the woman's behavior] as degrading or as a rejection and it would therefore not have to lead to conflicts in the workplace," the court's ruling said as quoted by The Local.
The woman herself said that in circumstances where both men and women were present, she greeted everyone by smiling and moving one hand to the heart.
