Written by Don Byrd
A federal judge in California has granted summary judgment for the EEOC against Abercrombie & Fitch in a workplace religious discrimination suit for refusing to accommodate a Muslim employee’s need to wear a hijab in accordance with her faith. Umme-Hani Khan worked for several months wearing a hijab before a store manager asked her to remove it to conform with the store’s “look policy.” Abercrombie argued they couldn’t reasonably accommodate Khan’s need to wear the hijab without an undue burden.
In ruling against Abercrombie, the judge rejected this argument, emphasizing that the company provided failed to support its claim that diverging from the look policy would harm the company.
Abercrombie only offers unsubstantiated opinion testimony of its own employees to support its claim of undue hardship.The deposition testimony and declarations from Abercrombie witnesses demonstrate their personal beliefs, but are not linked to any credible evidence. Khan had worked at Abercrombie for four months before Chmielewski observed her during a site visit.
Abercrombie failed to proffer any evidence from those four months showing a decline in sales in the Hillsdale store; customer complaints or confusion; or brand damage linked to Khan’s wearing of a hijab…
