ShareThisSAN 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
Hot Tip - Muslim Hijab is About Politics, Not Religion
More correctly, Islam is ALL about politics and NOT about religion. How many times does the Koran discuss love and human connection? NONE!
When will the Western world learn to discern this critical point??
What is Islam about? That
What is Islam about? That would be the following:
2010.02.24 (North Waziristan, Pakistan) - Three civilians have their throats cut by the Taliban, who throw their headless bodies into a ditch.
2010.02.24 (Hangu, Pakistan) - Suspected Islamic radicals fire on a railway car, killing three passengers, including a college student.
2010.02.24 (Baghdad, Iraq) - Terrorists assassinate a judge with a bomb outside his home.
2010.02.24 (Peshawar, Pakistan) - Four young brothers, ages 4 to 17, are destroyed by a Taliban rocket attack on their home.
2010.02.23 (Mosul, Iraq) - A Christian father and his two sons are murdered in their home. They were relatives of a priest.
2010.02.23 (Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan) - Seven civilians at a bus stop are blown to pieces by a bicycle bomb.
Good ol' Zahra Billoo, That
Good ol' Zahra Billoo,
That Whack Cracky Yaki "c.a.i.r." Paki is all in a tizzy about an infidel company who dares defy her charming vision of izlamic supremacy.
That self righteous outraged "cwzy moozleema" is on a new rampage in dar al harb against an unfair and evil clothier. Oh the injusctice of it all !
H O W D A R E T H E Y go against the dhimma ul umar !
Have a "c.a.i.r.-free" day you all !
Good ol' Zahra Billoo, That (creepy)
funny.
c.a.r.e. is again off to the trough it would seem.
One law for muslims, another for infidels
"Firing someone explicitly for a religious reason or practice is, in our view, against the law," Billoo said. So is having affiliations with terrorist organizations. But hey, that hasn't stopped good old CAIR from having close ties with islamic terrorist groups. Gotta love CAIR, one law for infidels, another for mooslims.
shoddy journalism
> Khan contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, a Muslim advocacy group.
This is very shoddy journalism, although it reflects the standard attitude of most "journalists" today regarding Islam and CAIR. There is a lot more to CAIR than just being a "Muslim advocacy group". CAIR's criminal past should have been mentioned, and it isn't hard to discover.
As mentioned above by Rastus, CAIR has had a longstanding history of close ties with terrorist organizations. It was founded by the Islamist "Moslem Brotherhood" and declared an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorist funding trial. CAIR has been involved in numerous incidents and legal actions involving Islamic supremists. E.g. the "Flying Imams", the Rifqa Bary case, et al.
CAIR has also been involved in defrauding fellow Moslims with bogus legal services provided by a non-lawyer.
The FBI recently severed all ties with the organization for similar reasons.
The above examples were just off the top of my head, although you can run a search on the internet for "CAIR" and find many more. Or just go to www.jihadwatch.org.
There is no excuse for this kind of shoddy journalism.
What drivel! An employer may
What drivel! An employer may dictate uniform standards to any of its' employees, grooming or clothing. Most office workers don't have the option to wear casual attire as they please. Perhaps Khan should seek employment elsewhere.