Man gets payout for not shaking woman's hand [View all]
Man gets payout for not shaking woman's hand
A town in western Sweden has agreed to pay damages to a man who was told he wouldn't be hired if he refused to shake a woman's hand for religious reasons.
The decision by officials in Trollhättan to pay the man 30,000 kronor ($4,500) means the municipality won't have to face a review of the case by Sweden's Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen).
The incident stemmed from an office visit by a man who had been offered an internship with the integration division at Trollhättan municipality.
When the man was set to meet a female supervisor at the office, he refused to shake her hand, explaining his religion forbade him from shaking hands with women unless he washed his hands directly afterwards.
The female supervisor then reportedly told the man that he could not intern at the office if he was not comfortable shaking everybody's hand. She also allegedly added that the office had hand sanitizer that he could use.
http://www.thelocal.se/48008/20130520/#.UZqnCdj4Kt0
= new reply since forum marked as read