Real life story: Religious discrimination in Germany
by Laura Mackay and Harpreet Singh
Harpreet Singh has been living in Germany for nearly four years. He understands the German culture and can speak German at a very advanced level.
He is Indian and belongs to the Sikh/Sikhism religion.
For Harpreet , this now means the beginning of a tiring legal battle against a German contracting company for dismissal on the basis of discrimination. For Harpreet it means he was fired because he wore a Turban.
In May 2013 Harpreet Singh, a second semester International Relations student at the Rhein-Waal university of Applied Sciences, started a job as a PC Installer on behalf of the German Army. Mr Singh had developed an extensive range of skills having been employed previously by many different German companies.
In July 2013, after working for two and a half months on several projects all over Germany, Mr Singh was called and informed that he was not needed at work the next day. In fact he was informed that he wasn’t needed at all again and his contract for this particular job had been suspended. Why? Because Harpreet wasn’t willing to change the way he looked and the company wasn’t willing to let him work looking the way he currently did. The boss responsible for the communication of this decision explained it to Mr Singh exactly in this way- his appearance was not appropriate.
There was a witness available who wrote a witness report for Harpreet which enabled his ability to make an official complaint. Mr Singh tried contacting German political parties and wrote to the authorized Representative of the German Army (Wehrbeautragte des Deutschen Bundestages ). He even contacted an Anti Discrimination Union/Club in Cologne, who wrote two letters to the Firm notifying them that they had illegally dismissed an employee. Nobody from the Firm bothered to reply to that. In fact some employees from the Firm actually supported the decision to end Mr Singhs employment and suggested to him that it would be best if he found another Job.
Mr Singh now has support of a lawyer from Cologne. Nearly 9 months after the incident Mr Singh is still waiting on developments in his case.
Within this period of time Mr Singh made the life changing decision to remove his Turban. He wasn’t able to absorb the whole injustice done to him in spite of all the proof and witnesses available. Mr Singh reflected on his experience: “My unfair dismissal gave me nightmares and many sleepless nights. It [the discrimination] literally shook my essence to the point where I started to question my own existence…I would be happy to hear from anyone who is able to give me advice in this matter”. He says would wear his Turban again if he were to gain justice in this case.
In a society that one regards with much esteem and confidence it is astounding that such incidences can still exist so openly.
Harpreet Singh has been living in Germany for nearly four years. He understands the German culture and can speak German at a very advanced level.
He is Indian and belongs to the Sikh/Sikhism religion.
For Harpreet , this now means the beginning of a tiring legal battle against a German contracting company for dismissal on the basis of discrimination. For Harpreet it means he was fired because he wore a Turban.
In May 2013 Harpreet Singh, a second semester International Relations student at the Rhein-Waal university of Applied Sciences, started a job as a PC Installer on behalf of the German Army. Mr Singh had developed an extensive range of skills having been employed previously by many different German companies.
In July 2013, after working for two and a half months on several projects all over Germany, Mr Singh was called and informed that he was not needed at work the next day. In fact he was informed that he wasn’t needed at all again and his contract for this particular job had been suspended. Why? Because Harpreet wasn’t willing to change the way he looked and the company wasn’t willing to let him work looking the way he currently did. The boss responsible for the communication of this decision explained it to Mr Singh exactly in this way- his appearance was not appropriate.
There was a witness available who wrote a witness report for Harpreet which enabled his ability to make an official complaint. Mr Singh tried contacting German political parties and wrote to the authorized Representative of the German Army (Wehrbeautragte des Deutschen Bundestages ). He even contacted an Anti Discrimination Union/Club in Cologne, who wrote two letters to the Firm notifying them that they had illegally dismissed an employee. Nobody from the Firm bothered to reply to that. In fact some employees from the Firm actually supported the decision to end Mr Singhs employment and suggested to him that it would be best if he found another Job.
Mr Singh now has support of a lawyer from Cologne. Nearly 9 months after the incident Mr Singh is still waiting on developments in his case.
Within this period of time Mr Singh made the life changing decision to remove his Turban. He wasn’t able to absorb the whole injustice done to him in spite of all the proof and witnesses available. Mr Singh reflected on his experience: “My unfair dismissal gave me nightmares and many sleepless nights. It [the discrimination] literally shook my essence to the point where I started to question my own existence…I would be happy to hear from anyone who is able to give me advice in this matter”. He says would wear his Turban again if he were to gain justice in this case.
In a society that one regards with much esteem and confidence it is astounding that such incidences can still exist so openly.
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