Ella and Lucy loved working at the Black Star Pastry in the Chadstone Shopping Centre. For them, it was about more than just making coffee.

“It was a high school job that turned into a livelihood,” Ella says, who asked that their surname not be used. “It very much became part of my identity as well.”

The 22-year-olds shared interests in barista techniques, but also human rights. They became regular attendees of the Sunday rallies for Palestine, a weekly fixture among those protesting the war in Gaza.

“Just walking in a group, hearing and feeling the emotions of the community going through such a horrific crisis right now,” Ella says. “It hit me really hard.”

It was the second day of ‘Kuffiyeh Week’, a national pro-Palestine campaign in late January, when they decided to wear keffiyehs to work. Ella says the initial reaction was positive.

“We had a few Muslim women come up, they were overjoyed seeing us in a keffiyeh, they had a lot of gratitude. They actually stopped and bought a couple of cakes and coffees to have a conversation with us,” Ella says.

“We thought this is a great thing for everyone.”

That changed around lunchtime when Ella received a call from HR, instructing them to remove the keffiyehs. They quickly complied, removed the scarves and continued their shifts.

“We didn’t want to risk our livelihood. I’d been working there 9am to 5pm for months. I’d given a lot of my waking hours to that place, I didn’t want to lose my stability,” Ella says.

The next day, however, two senior Black Star Pastry employees visited the store, pulled them aside, and informed them they were sacked, effective immediately.

They were given termination letters that said the keffiyeh was “divisive and inflammatory” and wearing it to work was “serious enough to bring Black Star Pastry into disrepute”.

The workers had engaged in a “deliberate negligent act” that breached the company’s uniform and social media policies, the letters said.

“We respect our staff’s right to express their political views when they are not representing Black Star Pastry,” the letter stated. “Your actions have caused serious and imminent risk to the reputation and viability of our business.”

Both Ella and Lucy were shocked. They understood the uniform policy was black and white only, and claim they did not realise the scarves would be a problem. Plus, they thought it was the end of the matter when they followed the instructions on the day. “It made me feel pretty frustrated, angry,” Lucy says. “Like the world really hates Palestine.”

Ella was a full-time employee so was paid out leave entitlements, but Lucy was casual and says she has had to borrow money from friends to pay for rent and food. “I’m still unemployed. It’s been pretty bad,” Lucy says.

After losing their jobs, Lucy and Ella attended a protest permanently held on the steps of the Victorian Parliament. There, a fellow activist recommended they see a lawyer.

Now, they’ve engaged community law firm Young Workers Centre and are taking legal action against the high-end bakery, alleging breaches of the Equal Opportunity Act for loss of employment due to discrimination based on political belief or activity.

Lawyer Kelly Thomas is representing them pro bono and believes this is a clear-cut case, as the letters confirm the jobs were severed because of the keffiyehs.

“The link is irresistible. There’s a political belief, activity, it’s expressed. The next minute, they don’t have a job,” Thomas says. “It’s so heavy-handed, this approach, to two young workers who are engaging in a really peaceful showing of support for the Palestinian community.”

Thomas explained the tribunal has broad powers and can award remedies including compensation for lost wages, humiliation, emotional distress, or force the employer to apologise or retrain. “It’s about accountability,” she says.

Black Star Pastry general manager Danielle Laskovsky said it would be inappropriate to comment on the case as it was before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal but offered a general statement, echoing the termination letters.

“Black Star Pastry is committed to providing a safe, positive, and productive working environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. It respects the right of its employees to express their political views when not representing Black Star Pastry.”

The day Ella and Lucy wore the keffiyehs to work, a shopper posted a photograph of them on X using a since-suspended account, tagging both Black Star Bakery and the Chadstone Shopping Centre official accounts, with the message: “Why are your staff at Chadstone wearing Palestinian terrorist headwear?”

Ella says the whole experience has exacerbated existing mental illness, causing it to “spiral”. “I felt very paranoid but also very worried, concerned, anxious about who that was, where that came from, the spreading of that misinformation by someone I don’t know was very jarring. Not just jarring, but scary.”

Thomas is concerned by the speed of the terminations and says she has seen an uptick in employers taking harsh action against employees over political beliefs since the war in Gaza began.

“There is a greater concern among people, young workers especially, who are really torn between making sure they keep their jobs but also successfully showing solidarity to a group of people who are more than likely experiencing a genocide before our eyes.

“It’s very hard for people to reconcile these two positions.”

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