British Airways sued by employee over religious apparel

LONDON — A Christian employee of British Airways says she is suing the airline for telling her she cannot wear her cross while still allowing Muslim and Sikh employees to don their religious scarves and turbans. Nadia Eweida, a check-in worker at London’s Heathrow Airport, claims she was told in a letter from the company that showing her cross breached its uniform rules, despite the fact that workers of other faiths were free to wear their religions’ own jewelry, including iron bangles.

"British Airways permits Muslims to wear a headscarf, Sikhs to wear a turban and other faiths religious apparel," said Eweida, a seven-year employee of the airline. "Only Christians are forbidden to express their faith." British Airways said religious items such as Muslims’ hijabs (headscarves) and Sikhs’ turbans and traditional iron bangles could be worn by its workers "as it is not practical for staff to conceal them beneath their uniforms."

Eweida, a Coptic Christian with an Egyptian father and an English mother, said she refused to remove the cross or hide it beneath a British Airways scarf. She was sent home and told in a letter that she "failed to comply with a reasonable request." Eweida said the small cross she wears on a chain around her neck is the symbol of her deeply held Christian beliefs.