Muslim employee sues Disney for right to wear headscarf

[Bloodshot Scott]

CNN yesterday said she had been at the company for 2 years, all whilst knowing the work dress code but chose to get uppity.

By Laura Bly, USA TODAY


Not such a Small World, after all?

A Muslim employee who works as a restaurant hostess at Disneyland Resort's Grand Californian hotel filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the company Wednesday, charging she wasn't allowed to wear her hijab, a headscarf some Muslim women wear as a sign of modesty, in front of customers.Imane Boudlal, left, a Muslim woman who works as a hostess at a Disneyland restaurant, is joined by supporters during a news conference in Anaheim, Calif., Wednesday.
CAPTIONBy Jae C. Hong, AP
According to the Associated Press, Imane Boudlal, 26, a Morocco-born U.S. citizen, was fitted earlier this summer for a Disney-supplied headscarf but wasn't given a date for completion of the garment and was told she couldn't wear her own hijab in the interim. When she wore a headscarf to work at the Storytellers Cafe Sunday in observance of Ramadan, her supervisors told her to remove it, work where customers couldn't see her, or go home.

In a prepared statement, Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown said the company "values diversity and has a long-standing policy against discrimination of any kind, " and that Disney has been "working directly" with Boudhal, who has been employed at the resort for more than two years.

"Typically, somebody in an on-stage position like hers wouldn't wear something like that, that's not part of the costume," Brown told the AP. "We were trying to accommodate her with a backstage position that would allow her to work. We gave her a couple of different options and she chose not to take those."

Boudhal isn't the first employee to run afoul of the "Disney Look," a legendarily strict dress code that dates back to Disneyland's inception in 1955, says David Koenig, author of four books about Disneyland and a contributor to MousePlanet.com, a website about Disney parks. Another Muslim woman filed suit against Disney World in 2004 for not being allowed to wear the hijab at work; the case was settled a year later for undislosed terms but the woman's lawyer, Frank T. Allen, said she didn't return to work for Disney.

"Walt (Disney) wanted people to be as friendly, clean-cut and all-American as possible, and you couldn't stand out in any way," says Koenig. "In the early days, there were few if any minorities...it was a Barbie and Ken mold."

The "Disney Look" - which, says Koenig, once included such rules as no earrings bigger than a dime, enforced by inspectors armed with rulers - has been eased over the years. This spring, Disney announced that female employees could, for the first time, go bare-legged when wearing skirts unless pantyhose is part of a specific costume. The company let male employees wear mustaches in 2000, and a few years later allowed male employees to style their hair in cornrows.

http://travel.usatoday.com/destinat...disneyland-hotel-hijab/108827/1#uslPageReturn

So, we let you in our house and you repay us by wiping your dirty sandals all over our nice carpet. You low down, no good rotten scoundrel you.

If my sister goes to Saudi Arabia does she not have to wear dress from head to toe or be stoned? Muslims don't want to be American, they want to CHANGE America. :ban:

This reminds me of the Mexican drug smuggler who got shot by ours and he won a suit. Sheesh. Forgive my borderline insane rant here.

Oh yeah, the part about "in the early days," don't trip people, America was majority "Ken and Barbie," so that is a trash point USA Today tried to sneak in there to fix Disney as some Nazi organization. :tongue:

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Well normally I'd agree with Disney, but since common sense no longer applies in America, I hope she sues and gets a couple million.

 

[Hot Mega]

I tend to agree. If a company has a dress code and your religion or whatever doesn't allow for you to conform to the dress code you shouldn't seek employment there.

If she wouldn't go work at Hooters or a strip club because of their dress code she shouldn't seek employment at other places with dress codes that don't permit her garb.

 

[Mayhem]

I tend to agree. If a company has a dress code and your religion or whatever doesn't allow for you to conform to the dress code you shouldn't seek employment there.

If she wouldn't go work at Hooters or a strip club because of their dress code she shouldn't seek employment at other places with dress codes that don't permit her garb.

I agree up to the point where Disney says:

friendly, clean-cut and all-American as possible,

I think we need to continually redefine what we perceive as "All-American.

 

[Hot Mega]

I agree up to the point where Disney says:


I think we need to continually redefine what we perceive as "All-American.

You're right, I agree. They would have put themselves in a better position if they simply said we have a dress code.

 

[Asianlov69]

I tend to agree. If a company has a dress code and your religion or whatever doesn't allow for you to conform to the dress code you shouldn't seek employment there.

If she wouldn't go work at Hooters or a strip club because of their dress code she shouldn't seek employment at other places with dress codes that don't permit her garb.

I agree...

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

Well normally I'd agree with Disney, but since common sense no longer applies in America, I hope she sues and gets a couple million.

Meeeeeeeeh. Plasma, are you mad at me because I didn't vote for you this week? Anyway, I'd have to say pleanty of us evil Yankees feel mutually about Canada.

I tend to agree. If a company has a dress code and your religion or whatever doesn't allow for you to conform to the dress code you shouldn't seek employment there.

If she wouldn't go work at Hooters or a strip club because of their dress code she shouldn't seek employment at other places with dress codes that don't permit her garb.

Finally we can agree on something. It's like I said, if my sister goes to Saudi Arabia, she gets stoned if she doesn't abide by their dress code. Americans have lost the backbone.

I agree up to the point where Disney says:


I think we need to continually redefine what we perceive as "All-American.

We should continue to change for outsiders? This is totally nonsense.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Meeeeeeeeh. Plasma, are you mad at me because I didn't vote for you this week? Anyway, I'd have to say pleanty of us evil Yankees feel mutually about Canada.

Shows what you all know. We don't have a Disney park here. Crazy Yankees...

 

[yokomo]

Meeeeeeeeh. Plasma, are you mad at me because I didn't vote for you this week? Anyway, I'd have to say pleanty of us evil Yankees feel mutually about Canada.



Finally we can agree on something. It's like I said, if my sister goes to Saudi Arabia, she gets stoned if she doesn't abide by their dress code. Americans have lost the backbone.



We should continue to change for outsiders?

whats the dress code, and no she wouldnt get stoned, you ignorant fool.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

So Rodney the Jihadi can't wear a suicide bomber vest to work? That's discrimination!

 

[sporty_carr]

Disney really needs to start enforcing stricter policies.

"Put on the mouse ears.......put on the mouse ears or die!"

 

[meesterperfect]

Its as simple as following a dress code for employees.
I hope Mickey doesn't give in and make a settlement with this person.

 

[Mayhem]

We should continue to change for outsiders? This is totally nonsense.

No, we should continue to change for ourselves. America is a work in progress and so is the society that makes it. It's called evolution. We are not the country we were 30 years ago, we won't be the country we are, 30 years from now.

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

whats the dress code, and no she wouldnt get stoned, you ignorant fool.

It was an analogy, Flamer. :Flame: Most definitely there are pleanty of ME countries that simply don't allow for anything other than a burqua. This bitch needs to get her ass back to sandville IMO. If America is not your style too bad.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Well normally I'd agree with Disney, but since common sense no longer applies in America, I hope she sues and gets a couple million.

What's that supposed to mean mrtre...ah Plas?

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

What's that supposed to mean mrtre...ah Plas?

It means he's jealous there is nothing like Disney in Canada. :surprise:

 

[ChefChiTown]

She won't win. Disney is very, VERY strict with the way that their employees present themselves. For instance, if you want to work as a chef for Disney (somebody whom the public will hardly ever see), you can't have tattoos that show. If you have tattoos that show when you are dressed in your uniform, they'll fire you. And, they have every right to...because you have to agree to dress code stipulations when you sign the contract to work for them.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

What's that supposed to mean mrtre...ah Plas?

Very simple, young Grasshopper. Common sense would dictate that this woman had no case to sue Disney because she signed a contract that specifically states what employees can and can not wear. However, since common sense in America seems to be dead (IE: building a mosque near Ground Zero that - despite not breaking any laws - has a gigantic amount of backlash and will most likely suffer from anti-Islamic vandalism when it is done, putting Sarah Palin in the news, etc.), I support this woman's rights to sue Disney and hopefully she will make a couple million dollars doing so.

 

[KimoraKlein]

Your annotation to the article was crude, ignorant, and wholly incorrect anyway. And who the hell mentioned anything about Saudi Arabia in the first place? Mind you:

"Imane Boudlal, 26, a Morocco-born U.S. citizen"

I am ALL for whatever the hell someone wants to wear, but I guess she should have inquired about Disney's dress policy or 'costume', as they put it, before she got the job.

This article is about a woman who wanted to retain her tradition/modesty/religion/what-have-you at the workplace. It has nothing to do with Saudi Arabians stoning your sister.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Very simple, young Grasshopper. Common sense would dictate that this woman had no case to sue Disney because she signed a contract that specifically states what employees can and can not wear. However, since common sense in America seems to be dead (IE: building a mosque near Ground Zero that - despite not breaking any laws - has a gigantic amount of backlash and will most likely suffer from anti-Islamic vandalism when it is done, putting Sarah Palin in the news, etc.), I support this woman's rights to sue Disney and hopefully she will make a couple million dollars doing so.

Ooooh.:surprise: