Woman in the veil Aishah Azmi has lost her claim against discrimination - but won her claim for victimisation
http://www.thesun.co.uk/section/0,,2,00.html
Veil woman wins claim
By ONLINE REPORTER
October 19, 2006
A MUSLIM teaching assistant who refused to remove her veil during lessons today won her employment tribunal case for victimisation against the school which suspended her but lost her claims of discrimination and harassment.
Kirklees Council suspended Aishah Azmi, 24, after she refused to remove her veil while teaching at Headfield Church of England Junior School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
The school said face-to-face communication was essential for Ms Azmi’s job as a bilingual support worker.
The case fuelled an ongoing debate about the use of the veil and the way that the Muslim community integrates into British society.
Ms Azmi was today awarded £1,000 for “injury to feelings” after she succeeded in her claim of victimisation.
But her claims of direct and indirect discrimination, and her claim of harassment, were dismissed.
In a statement Mrs Azmi criticised ministers who had intervened in the case and said it made her “fearful of the consequences for Muslim women in this country who want to work“.
She said she was considering an appeal against the decision to dismiss three of her claims.
“It is clear that discrimination against me has taken place and I am disappointed that the Employment Tribunal has not been able to uphold that part of my claim,” she said.
“I am taking the advice of my legal team at Kirklees Law Centre and will be looking to appeal against that decision.
“However, I am pleased that the tribunal have recognised the victimising way in which the school and the local education authority have handled this matter and the distress that has caused me.”
She went on: “Muslim women who wear the veil are not aliens, and politicians need to recognise that what they say can have a very dangerous impact on the lives of the minorities they treat as outcasts.
“Integration requires people like me to be in the workplace so that people can see that we are not to be feared or mistrusted.
“Sadly the intervention of ministers in my case (against the ministerial
code) makes me fearful of the consequences for Muslim women in this country who want to work.
“I will continue to uphold my religious beliefs and urge Muslims to engage in dialogue with the wider community, despite the attacks that are being made upon them.”
Mrs Azmi, of Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, has said she was willing to remove her veil in front of children - but not when male colleagues were present.
It emerged she had not worn the veil during her job interview.
Mrs Azmi insisted she was “caught unawares” because she thought a woman would assess her for the role at the junior school, on Vicarage Road in Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, which teaches 546 boys and girls aged seven to 11.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said the veil row was part of a necessary debate about the way the Muslim community integrates into British society.
The debate was sparked by the Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw when he said that the wearing of full veils - or niqab - made community relations more difficult.
On Tuesday, Mr Blair said the veil worn by hundreds of Muslim women in the UK is a “mark of separation” which makes people of other ethnic backgrounds feel uncomfortable.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell described the veil as a “symbol of women’s subjugation to men” and suggested that women wearing it “cannot take their full place in society”.
Mr Blair stressed that he was not suggesting women should be ordered to remove their veils.
He said he could “see the reason” why Kirklees Council chose to suspend Mrs Azmi for refusing to remove her veil in the classroom.
While stressing that such decisions were a matter for local authorities, he added: “I do support the authority in the way that they have handled this.”
He went on: “Difficult though these issues are, they need to be raised and confronted.
“People want to know that the Muslim community in particular, but actually all minority communities, have got the balance right between integration and multi-culturalism.”
The tribunal also found that the local education authority had failed to comply with statutory grievance procedures and awarded a 10 per cent uplift on the £1,000 sum for injury to feelings.
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