British Airways worker to sue over crucifix row

LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) A British Airways worker sent home for refusing to conceal a small Christian cross while on duty plans to take legal action against the airline.

The Observer newspaper today said Nadia Eweida intends to sue the airline for religious discrimination after she was told not to display the cross, but to hide it under her uniform.

The Heathrow check-in worker said she had recently undergone training on respecting and understanding people's beliefs when she was asked to remove the crucifix from view. ''I was forced to take unpaid leave because I have refused to remove my cross or put it under my cravat,'' she told the newspaper.

The airline said 55-year-old Eweida was on voluntary unpaid leave and had not been suspended. A spokesman said British Airways recognised that uniformed staff may wish to wear jewellery including religious symbols.

''Our uniform policy, which has been in place for a number of years, states these items can be worn, underneath the uniform,'' he said.

''Other religious items such as turbans, hijabs and bangles can be worn as it is not practical for staff to conceal them beneath their uniforms.'' Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, a high profile convert to the Roman Catholic faith, said Christians were being unfairly targeted.

''Why on earth if a BA employee can wear a headscarf, which they can, can wear a turban, which they can, can wear a Sikh bangle, which they can, why uniquely can a Christian not wear a cross?'', she said on BBC television.

The issue of religious dress and symbols has been in the spotlight in recent days after Jack Straw, the former Foreign Secretary, said Muslim women who wore full veils made community relations difficult.

Now the leader of the House of Commons, Straw said he would prefer that women did not wear them because they acted as a ''visible statement of separation and difference.'' Reuters SY VV1751