Two Muslim security guards have claimed they were fired from a Paris airport because their “beards were too long”.
The men have launched legal action after management at Orly airport allegedly rounded up Muslim staff and asked them to trim their facial hair in the wake of the Paris attacks.
One of the men named “Bachir”, claimed he had faced negative comments from colleagues, with one supervisor ‘offering to bring in a lawnmower’ to trim his beard.
But he refused to comply with the policy, insisting his beard was for fashion “hipster style… and not for religion”.
The 28-year-old, who had worked at the airport for five years, claims he was fired just days later after filed a discrimination complaint, it was reported by Le Parisien.
Another guard named “Bechir” told BFM TV that he suspected he was fired over his beard, although he was told he had lost his job months before the Paris attacks because he was “medically unfit”.
A lawyer has taken on both men’s cases, claiming that some companies had become “paranoid” after the Paris attacks.
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