Abercrombie & Fitch lose court battle telling Muslim woman her headscarf didn’t fit their look

[Jazzy]

A Muslim woman who was denied a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because she wears a headscarf has won a legal battle to sue them for discrimination.

Samantha Elauf, 24, was turned down for a job at Abercrombie Kids in Oklahoma when she was 17 because her religious attire did not fit in with the company’s ‘look policy’.

However the Supreme Court has ruled that the decision was a form of religious discrimination in the landmark case.

The case was brought to the Supreme Court by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that sued the company on Elauf’s behalf after she was turned down for the role in 2008.

Elauf, now 24, initially won a $20,000 judgement against Abercrombie before a federal district court, however the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver then threw that out, ruling in favor of Abercrombie, before the high court backed Elauf.

Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: ‘We welcome this historic ruling in defense of religious freedom at a time when the American Muslim community is facing increased levels of Islamophobia.’

The clothing brand have made it clear that the case will continue, with a spokesperson saying: ‘We will determine our next steps in the litigation.’

Ambercrombie & Fitch has received criticism for the ‘look policy’ imposed on staff working in their stores before.

Source

Thoughts about her winning the lawsuit?

 

[Webster]

On the merits, this was a decent decision by the High Court; as SCOTUSBlog puts it, "this was a victory for religious liberty in the workplace". The only question that comes to mind is how will those who seem to like using religious liberty as a cudgel against certain groups in this country (such as social conservatives attempt to use this as a rationale to discriminate against gays, Muslims, atheists, etc.) going to like seeing it used by religious faiths they may not care for...

 

[Evil Eye]

I believe several super markets here solved the "not out look" problem by providing optional head scarves as part of the uniform. I thought that was an interesting solution.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

So much for the rights of businesses to run a business as they see fit. Horrible decision from the courts. If this stands then businesses will just say not hire people and make a different excuse as to why you didn't get the job.

 

[DrLeftover]

Why would a devout Muslim want to go anywhere near that place?

 

[seasidemike]

irony: fighting for the right to be religiously oppressed

 

[Webster]

Why would a devout Muslim want to go anywhere near that place?

*scratches head in thought* ....could it be she wanted to work there?

 

[Webster]

So much for the rights of businesses to run a business as they see fit. Horrible decision from the courts. If this stands then businesses will just say not hire people and make a different excuse as to why you didn't get the job.

I've said it before, Liberty: if you run a business in the public sphere, there are laws you must abide by...one of those is that you cannot discriminate based on religion. To be fair, though, I'm still surprised the High Court ruled in her favor; when I read the decision, all I could hear were the exploding heads of Christian Fundies' over the fact the court sided w/a Mohammedan...

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

I've said it before, Liberty: if you run a business in the public sphere, there are laws you must abide by...one of those is that you cannot discriminate based on religion. To be fair, though, I'm still surprised the High Court ruled in her favor; when I read the decision, all I could hear were the exploding heads of Christian Fundies' over the fact the court sided w/a Mohammedan...

When you apply for a job you know way ahead of time there will be a dress code. If you do not like that dress code and it offends you or goes against your religion don't take the damn job! Screw the court and screw some immoral so called law telling me how I should run a business on this. Now a business will just compensate and say something like you are just not hired we went with someone else and problem solved. People will lose out on a job and never know why because companies will be to worried to ask any questions if you can say cover up that tattoo which then the employer will not have to worry about that offending there religion.