Community Corner

Abercrombie Settles Headscarf Lawsuit Filed by Bay Area Muslim Women

Settlement related to firings of two women at clothing store chain's locations in San Mateo and Milpitas.

The Abercrombie & Fitch clothing store chain has agreed to revise its employee dress code to accommodate religious practices, including the wearing of headscarves by Muslim women, a federal civil rights agency announced in San Francisco Monday.

 The agreement settles two religious-discrimination lawsuits filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Ohio-based Abercrombie on behalf of two young Muslim women who wanted to wear headscarves on the job at Bay Area stores.

 "We are pleased about the policy changes resulting from these lawsuits and commend these two courageous young women for standing up for their civil rights," said EEOC District Director Michael Baldonado. One of the women, Hani Khan, 23, of Foster City, was fired in 2010 for wearing a headscarf at her job as a stockroom worker at an Abercrombie-owned Hollister Co. store at the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo.

 Company officials had determined that her headscarf violated Abercrombie's "Look Policy," according to a ruling in Khan's case by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of Oakland earlier this month. The policy requires workers to wear clothing with a casual, youthful look similar to that of items sold in the stores.

 In the other case, the EEOC alleged that Halla Banafa, 24, was denied a job at an Abercrombie outlet at the Great Mall in Milpitas in 2008 because she wore a headscarf. Banafa was 18 years old at the time. The settlement requires that Abercrombie will accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs, including allowing headscarves, unless doing so would cause undue business hardship. In addition, Kahn will receive $48,000 and Banafa will receive $23,000 in financial compensation.

 Abercrombie & Fitch Stores Inc. issued a statement saying, "Abercrombie & Fitch does not discriminate based on religion and we grant reasonable religious accommodations when they are requested. "We are happy to have settled these cases and to have put these very old matters behind us," the company said.

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