Complaint Over Head-Scarf Firing at Store

Devout Muslim women who accept jobs at trendy, western shops like Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch are nothing but disingenuous when they decide to sue the store for "religious discrimination."

Last year a British-Muslim woman sued a bar because she said she had to dress provocatively. Realistically, she wore a modest dress in accordance with her position as a cocktail waitress. She accepted the position, which included the serving of alcohol, knowing what her duties would be. A few months after she received money from a court, she proved her hypocrisy when she posted photos of herself, wearing a tiny t-shirt and showing her cleavage, on Facebook.

These Muslim females should know better. Devout Hindu or Jewish women don't expect special treatment at these shops (and probably don't apply to work at such stores if their religion means so much to them). CAIR spokeswoman Zahra Billoo attacked Hollister and claimed religious persecution, proving that this CAIR official is like the rest who claim religious discrimination for anything and everything. Many places of work have dress codes which must be adhered to. There may be rules about hair, clothing and so on. This has nothing to do with religious discrimination on the part of the Hollister company and everything to do with Muslims expecting special treatment over other people. Besides, why would a devout Muslim girl be around posters featuring scantly clad men and women all day long?

From the San Francisco Chronicle via Scripps News:

SAN MATEO, Calif. - A Muslim college student has lodged a complaint with federal officials after she said she was fired from her job at a clothing store for refusing to remove her hijab, or head scarf.

Hani Khan, 19, said she was terminated from her job Monday at a Hollister clothing store. Her firing came a week after a district manager visited the store, called her into a meeting and said she was not supposed to wear the scarf while at work, said Khan, who is of Indian and Pakistani descent.

A representative from human resources joined the meeting by phone, and Khan said she was told that she was in violation of the store's "look policy."

"I thought it was quite unfair," Khan said in an interview Wednesday. "It was really surprising, especially in the Bay Area, because everybody's so open-minded and accepting of everybody. It's really surprising to see blatant discrimination against someone who is of an Islamic state who is wearing a hijab."

Khan contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, a Muslim advocacy group. On Tuesday, the organization filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Abercrombie & Fitch, which operates Hollister stores.

The commission cannot confirm or deny the existence of a complaint, a spokesman said Wednesday. Abercrombie & Fitch officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Khan, a political-science student at the College of San Mateo, said she wore her hijab to her job interview before she was hired as a part-time stockroom worker in October. She said her direct supervisors had no problem with her headwear, so long as they were of the company's colors -- navy, gray and white -- which she said they were.

CAIR spokeswoman Zahra Billoo said it was "unconscionable" for Abercrombie & Fitch to treat Khan this way. "Firing someone explicitly for a religious reason or practice is, in our view, against the law," Billoo said.

In September, the EEOC filed a civil suit against Abercrombie & Fitch for allegedly discriminating against a 17-year-old Muslim in Oklahoma by refusing to hire her because she wore a hijab. The case is pending.

(E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee(at)sfchronicle.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

Must credit the San Francisco Chronicle