Viennese entrepreneur Peter Schaider is facing preliminary proceedings before the Administrative Senate following the rejection of an applicant for a hairdressing apprenticeship. This stems from allegations of discrimination, as the rejection was based on the applicant wearing a headscarf. Speaking to the daily newspaper Heute, Schaider expressed his lack of understanding regarding the legal proceedings surrounding the matter. He emphasised that the hairdressing profession is characterised above all by the presentation of hairstyles:
I was told that this is discrimination. But we make our living from styling, from beauty, from hair fashion. People can’t stand there wearing a headscarf. I’m sorry, but that’s just unacceptable.
Schaider defended his stance on staff selection and drew comparisons with other service sectors. In his view, personal appearance plays a crucial role in establishing credibility when selling hairdressing services:
We sell hair accessories. You can’t sell slimming products when you weigh 130 kilos either. That won’t work either.
As well as the proceedings before the regulatory body, Schaider touched upon the general changes in the training of junior staff. Over the course of his decades-long career as a trainer, he noted that the focus at the start of an apprenticeship had shifted noticeably:
We used to start by teaching them how to wash hair. Today, we teach them how to greet people, shake hands and make eye contact.
He also spoke of the expectations held by some applicants which, in his view, were not compatible with the traditional day-to-day work in a salon:
A hairdressing apprentice wanted to work from home for two days – how on earth could anyone come up with an idea like that? Another wanted a part-time apprenticeship. People are a bit daft.
It remains to be seen whether the employer’s objectively justified rejection of the headscarf-wearing applicant will have any consequences.