Businesses with agendas: A Muslim headscarf endangers Abercrombie & Fitch's “look”

This is not the first time this retailer has faced discrimination lawsuits. Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Abercrombie & Fitch for allegedly discriminating against a 17-year-old Muslim in Oklahoma by refusing to hire her because she covered her head.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Opinion
Source & Credit: Examiner.com | February 25, 2010
By Harris Zafar | Portland

Muslims need not apply

Abercrombie & Ftich’s website states that the retailer is “committed to increasing and leveraging the diversity of our associates and management across the organization. Those differences will be supported by a culture of inclusion.” Unfortunately, this does not seem apply to Muslim women.

Hani Khan, a 19-year-old Muslim woman of Pakistani decent, said she was fired from her job at a San Mateo clothing store for refusing to remove her hijab (head scarf). Khan was fired on Monday from Hollister, a retail brand owned by parent company Abercrombie & Fitch.

Khan was told that she was fired because she did not meet the Abercrombie & Fitch “look” since she chose to follow her faith’s modest approach to clothing by covering her head with a scarf. This is ironic considering that Khan wore her head-scarf during her job interview, and her immediate supervisor had no problem with it as long as the color of the head scarf matched the company’s colors. From that point, Khan wore only navy, gray and white colored head scarves.

But apparently that wasn’t enough for the district manager who visited the store and pulled Khan aside saying that her head scarf was not the look the company wants. So much for their commitment to increase and leverage the diversity of their staff. Khan has rightfully filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint about this issue.

The truth is that Abercrombie and Fitch’s actions are not only reprehensible but are indicative of a deep-rooted problem within their organization of discrimination. This is not the first time this retailer has faced discrimination lawsuits. Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Abercrombie & Fitch for allegedly discriminating against a 17-year-old Muslim in Oklahoma by refusing to hire her because she covered her head. In 2004, Abercrombie & Fitch agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the EEOC that accused the company of promoting whites over minorities and cultivating a practically all-white image in its catalogs and elsewhere.

It’s time for a shake-up in the Abercrombie & Fitch leadership organization. It’s time to stop this recurring behavior of discrimination. It’s time for them to finally live up to their claims of promoting diversity and fostering a culture of inclusion. If they do, it demonstrates a brand’s commitment to equality. If they don’t, it demonstrates their promotion of bigotry and intolerance.

Read original post here: Muslims need not apply

Harris Zafar is a contributing member of Majlis Sultan-ul Qalam, USA (MSQ USA). He engages in interfaith dialogue to highlight similarities among religions.  His rational views on Islam bring a fresh perspective. He speaks and writes about Islamic issues locally and nationally and believes faith does not require one to abandon logic and reason.