A Swedish dental student was during her dental clinic required to work with bare under-arms. Due to the student’s religious convictions, she asked for permission to wear disposable underarm protection, but her request was denied. The student filed a complaint with the Swedish Equality Ombudsman, who decided to bring an anti-discrimination case to civil court against the education provider Karolinska Institutet. Both parties agreed that working with bare underarms constituted a higher burden on Muslim women, and the case came down to conflicting expert testimony regarding how sanitary the arm covers were in practice. The court found that the education provider had the burden of proof to provide objective justification for an indirect discrimination and that both experts provided equally strong arguments. Therefore, the court ruled in favor of the student. The student was awarded SEK 5000 as compensatory damages.
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