Nadia’s Story

Nadia, a Christian woman, wanted to wear a crucifix on her necklace at her work in customer services with British Airways. As the necklace and crucifix would have been visible to customers, British Airways banned her from wearing the necklace and said it was against their uniform code. 

Nadia took a case to the courts in the UK, arguing that she was being discriminated against. The UK courts rejected her case. Nadia believed that her right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion had been breached, so she took a case to the European Court of Human Rights. This court ruled that Nadia's rights had been breached. They said that in rejecting Nadia's case, the UK courts had given too much weight to the employer’s corporate image and not enough to Nadia's right to wear a visible crucifix and manifest her beliefs. 

(Eweida v UK, 2013)