Backlash is growing in France against a court ruling in favor of a Muslim employee of a private nursery school who was fired after she refused to take her headscarf off.

A new poll has found that four-fifths of people in France would back a proposal to ban Muslim headscarves and other visible signs of religion in private companies.France s Interior Minister, who is in charge of religions as well as being the top security official, came out against the ruling last week.

In the poll released Monday, 85 percent of respondents opposed the decision, and more than 80 percent said they back a ban in private workplaces and schools. France already bans headscarves and other "ostentatious" signs of religion in public buildings and has outlawed face-covering veils in all.