Posted on 09/02/2010 7:09:47 AM PDT by Altura Ct.
A federal civil rights agency sued Abercrombie & Fitch on Wednesday on behalf of an 18-year-old woman who said she applied for her first job at the company's store at the Great Mall in Milpitas and was turned down because she wore a Muslim headscarf.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission went to court against Abercrombie & Fitch last year over a similar incident in Tulsa, Okla. In Wednesday's suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the agency again accused the Ohio company of discriminating on the basis of religion.
"This retailer that targets a youth market is sending the message that you cannot aspire to their 'All American' brand if you wear a head covering to comply with your faith," said William Tamayo, the agency's regional attorney.
Company representatives could not be reached for comment. In court filings in the Oklahoma case, which is pending, lawyers for Abercrombie & Fitch denied discriminating and said allowing the employee to wear a hijab, or headscarf, "would have created an undue hardship" for the company's business.
Federal law requires employers to accommodate their workers' religious practices unless they would cause an undue hardship. Abercrombie & Fitch's employee dress code bans head coverings.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
We have a small, independent greengrocer in our town who is from a middle eastern country. While his wife and sister-in-law do wear a headscarf, they are in their own place of business. All of them are sincerely pleasant to customers. They have muslim worry beads for sale, but they also have Spanish-language tapes and newspapers (with lots of Catholic articles), the Jewish newspaper (we have lots of orthodox in our town, and secularized Jewish emigrés from the former Soviet Union), and the store Muzac plays Christmas tunes in season.
That's free enterprise, folks. Markets are the great emancipator and liberator.
Muslims don’t have a religious faith; they have a political philosophy.
In school districts where this kind of nonsense goes on, I wonder why the parents of the Christian and Jewish kids aren’t suing the school districts for religious discrimination. Let’s put this whole “separation” thing to the test: either EVERYBODY can pray and worship in public, or nobody can - equal protection, no discrimination. Nobody has cojones anymore, its sad.
The whole thing is patently ridiculous - she would be denied her job not because of what religion she practices, but because of what attire she chooses to wear. If she’d take the dang scarf off, she’d probably be welcome to work there. Additionally, if she is so “devout’ that she feels the need to wear the hijab, then she wouldn’t be wearing the (tight and skimpy) clothing that Abercrombie offers anyway, so why would she want to work somewhere which only offers “offensive” products? I smell a rat, on this woman’s part. I hope she gets the smackdown she so richly deserves for pulling this nonsense.
Yep, they own all the liquor stores and 7-11s. :)
We certainly cannot expect Hussein Obama’s [In]Justice Department to pursue the issue.
When there is a town hall meeting in your town, ask your U.S. Rep or Senator how this prayer issue is OK for Muzzies but not OK for Christians - see what his response might be.
What is about Mulim”s beibg stuck in the dark ages?
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