Former hostess Imane Boudlal at a Disneyland restaurant in Los Angeles is suing Disney claiming the theme park would not allow her to serve customers while her Muslim head scarf was on.
Los Angeles / NationalTurk – In the latest chapter of a public harrassment conflict dating back to 2010, a former muslim hostess at a hotel restaurant in Disney’s California Adventure theme park Disneyworld filed a federal lawsuit against the Disney company.
Subject of lawsuit filed in Los Angeles court is that Imane Boudlal, the muslim woman claims that when she was to remove the hijab when wearing it while serving customers. Imane, her name meaning ‘ faith ‘ in english was told to work backstage so the customers would not ne disturbed by the sight of a muslim.
Now Imane the waitress with head scarf, states that she was harassed and discriminated against at work because she is Muslim and Moorish.
The 28 year-old US citizen Imane Boudlal was born in Morocco. She started working at the Storytellers Cafe in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in 2008.
Disney : Hazardous job environment for Muslims
Two years later, Imane Boudlal asked to wear the hijab, or headscarf worn by observant Muslim women, at work, but she was suspended after rejecting Disney’s costume alternatives and offers of four backstage jobs away from the public eye. Whenever she did she was told to remove it, work away from customers or was sent home, the suit claims. She was sent home at least seven times without pay for wearing the headscarf to work, reported the OC Weekly.
Her first complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was filed in 2010 and her complaint against Disney then is still pending. Last week Imane received a notice of right to sue Disney.
Boudlal’s managers at Disney restaurant offered her a bow-tie bonnet covered with a hat as a compromise but she refused that ridicilous offer stating that the hat made a ‘joke’ of both her and Islam. After refusing to wear the bonnet and turning down the ‘backstage’ work, Imane Boudlal, the Muslim waitress in distress, was suspended.
Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown says in a statement : “Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has a history of accommodating religious requests from cast members of all faiths. We presented Ms. Boudlal with multiple options to accommodate her religious beliefs, as well as offered her several roles that would have allowed her to wear her own hijab,” “Unfortunately, our Muslim employee rejected all of our efforts and has since refused to come to her work at Disneyland.” she adds.
Disney empolyers refer to Muslim colleagues as terrorists, camel or Kunta Kinte
Boudlal’s attorneys also claim that she was taunted the entire time she worked there by her colleagues, who called her sadly, yet funny ‘terrorist,’ ‘camel’ and ‘Kunta Kinte,’ the name of a slave in Alex Haley’s novel, Roots. Upon telling of the constant abuse both orally and in writing, the managers did nothing for Imane Boudlal, her attorneys told the Los Angeles Times.
Imane Boudlal is being represented by her union, UNITE HERE Local 11, which has been in a bitter fight for several years with Disneyland over an expired contract for hotel workers.
Disney’s strict dress code prohibits cast members or employees who meet the public, from wearing religious items. But the company has worked to accommodate employees’ concerns by letting such modifications as longer sleeves and skirts instead of pants. In 2004, Disney World in Florida was sued by a female Muslim employee who desired to wear a headscarf to work. The head scarf case was settled out of court and the terms were confidential.
Imane Boudlal’s case demands for a permanent injunction requiring Disney not to prohibit employees from wearing hijabs, plus it asks punitive damages and anti-harassment training for company employees that includes sensitive Muslim issues.
Disney has a bad reputation for such cases. This is not the first time that a Disney employee has insisted on wearing the hijab to work.
In 2010, Noor Abdallah, then a 22-year-old Muslim intern from Chicago, agreed to wear a specially customised Disney-made Micky Mouse bonnet as a compromise.
Head scarf or hijab is used in Turkey as a political flag weared on their sectarian heads among Islamists.
Disney is not an ordinary place to work. Their employees are viewed as “cast members” in a performance. Disney makes this quite clear at the time you are hired. The orientation is quite extensive in this regard.
Imagine that you apply for a job as an actor in a play and after period of time, you refuse to wear the costume for the role you play. That is how most people seem to be viewing this scenario. If this case goes forward, it might actually harm the image of Islam in the eyes of many. Any way you could talk her out of it?