Shabbat candles. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

A Jewish hairdresser in Montreal won a discrimination lawsuit against a former employer who fired him after he was told he was not allowed to work on Shabbat, Canada’s Global News reported on Thursday.

Richard Zilberg, 54, was hired at a salon in October 2011 and worked six days a week, including Saturdays. According to court documents, his employee Iris Gressy, who is also Jewish, told Zilberg in July 2012 that he would no longer work on Saturdays following her new policy of not allowing her Jewish employees to work on Shabbat. She reportedly asked Zilberg not to tell clients why he was no longer working on Saturdays.

Gressy fired Zilberg a month later after discovering that he told a salon client she forbid his from working on Saturdays due to his religion.

A judge in Quebec ruled that Gressy’s decision to prohibit Zilberg from working on Shabbat violated his right to equality in employment due to his religion, according to Global News.

Gressy was ordered to pay Zilberg $12,500.