Muslim woman sues U.S. company over right to wear Hijab

6/23/2005

A Muslim woman is suing a Florida real estate company for religious discrimination after her boss ordered her not to wear the Islamic head scarf, or Hijab and long sleeves at work.

Danine Hammond, 27, said the office manager of Chapel Trace Apartments told her that she cannot wear her Hijab at work.

Hammond is suing the Miami-based Housing Trust Management Co., which owns the Chapel Trace complex, under Florida's Civil Rights Act and demanding the company to compensate her for lost pay and benefits, punitive and compensatory damages, and legal fees.

Speaking at a news conference, Hammond said: "I feel I have the right to work here in the U.S., and I shouldn't have to compromise my religion".

Other employees at the complex refused to comment. Also representatives from the Housing Trust Group did not return phone calls.

Hammond said that the conflict started last April, on her first day of work as a leasing agent for Chapel Trace.

Hammond said that Olga Sierra, the office manager told her "you cannot work here dressed like that".

Chapel Trace complex employees are required to wear a uniform - a short-sleeved shirt and pants, Hammond said.

"She assumed that I would take it off," Hammond said, adding that when she refused to remove the head scarf and asked her boss to check with a supervisor about accommodating her religious customs, Sierra ordered Hammond to go home, according to the lawsuit.

"I was in shock," Hammond said. "I went home bawling my eyes out." No one ever called her, the suit said.

Hammond then turned to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which tried contacting the company for months without getting a response, Ahmed Bedier, director of the organization's Central Florida office, said.

On Aug. 23, 2004, Hammond filed a discrimination complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations. In February 2005, the commission said that there were no grounds for the complaint, allowing her to pursue further action.

Hammond’s case is among several allegations of workplace discrimination against Muslims in the United States:

In May 2004, a former Walt Disney World employee sued the theme park for not allowing her to wear the Islamic headscarf when she worked as a bellhop and salesclerk at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort.

Also in 2003, a Tampa woman filed Equal Employment Opportunity complaints against the state Department of Health, because her supervisor started treating her differently when she converted to Islam and wore the Islamic veil.

"Right now, in the post-911 era, it seems to be popular for corporations to discriminate against Muslims," Bedier said. "These lawsuits are essential to send a message to corporations in America and Florida: You cannot discriminate".

Most of the religious discrimination cases the American-Islamic council deals with rarely reach the lawsuit level, Bedier said. "The law is on the individual's side to protect religious rights," Bedier said. Like the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, Florida law prohibits employers from discrimination based on religion when it comes to hiring or firing an individual.