Indeed, Air France has shown discrimination by prohibiting one of its flight attendants from wearing Afro braids, a hairstyle also authorized for flight attendants, the Court of Cassation considered.
“The requirements linked to the exercise of the flight attendant profession do not justify the prohibition” of such a hairstyle and, by authorizing it for women but not for men, the airline has effectively committed a discriminatory “differential treatment”, ruled the highest French court . in a decision handed down on Wednesday.
Hired in 1998 by Air France, the flight attendant has been wearing “African braids tied in a bun” since 2005. The company then refused to ship it “as it considered that such a hairstyle was not authorized by the manual (…) for male cabin crew”.
Wig
The employee wore a wig for several years to perform his duties, before being sued by the labor court in 2012 for discrimination.
Air France suspended him a few months later for “presentation that did not meet the rules for wearing a uniform.” The flight attendant was declared “definitely unfit” in 2016 due to depression recognized as an occupational disease, then fired in 2018, after refusing a reclassification as a ground crew.
Following a refusal to the prud’hommes, the Paris Court of Appeal in turn rejected, in November 2019, their claims for compensation for discrimination, moral harassment and disloyalty, back wages and annulment of their dismissal.
“How to style your hair is not part of the uniform or its extension”
To rule out discrimination based on sex, the Court of Appeal invoked an “admitted difference in appearance (…) between men and women as regards clothing, hairstyle, shoes and make-up” and considered that such a difference ” that takes up the codes in use cannot be classified as discrimination”.
But the Court of Cassation recalls that the labor code only authorizes differences in treatment between workers if they meet “essential and determining professional requirements”, which is not the case in this case.
It stresses in particular that “the way of combing one’s hair is not part of the uniform or its extension” and that the “social codes” invoked by the Court of Appeal “are not objective criteria that justify a difference in treatment between men and women”. “.
Source: BFM TV
