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An employer cannot have a blanket ban on religious dress that prevents a Muslim woman from wearing an Islamic headscarf when in contact with clients, an Advocate General for the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has recommended. In French case Bougnaoui and another v Micropole Univers, a Muslim IT engineer who wore an Islamic headscarf was told by her employer to remove it while visiting clients, after a client’s staff complained about her appearance. The Muslim employee was dismissed after she refused to comply with this request from her employer, which has strict rules about staff expressing or displaying personal beliefs when with clients. The employee brought a claim in the French domestic court, which referred the issue to the ECJ. The French court asked the ECJ whether or not the wish of this customer that a visiting IT engineer not wear an Islamic headscarf could be a “genuine and determining occupational requirement” of the job. Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston, giving her opinion in advance of the full ECJ decision, suggested that employers are committing direct religious discrimination if a Muslim employee is banned from wearing an Islamic headscarf while at work. The Advocate General acknowledged that there are limited circumstances in which a requirement of the job allows an employer to ban an employee from wearing religious appa