Abercrombie & Fitch's 'looks policy' under fire for stark employee discrimination of Muslim girl

Clothing store is no stranger to discrimination suits after stelling for $40 million in 2005.

Abercrombie & Fitch faces yet another lawsuit for potential discrimination. The hip clothing store has previously been under fire for lack of racial diversity in both employment and advertisement and for limited sizing choices.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Abercrombie & Fitch is on the defensive this time for refusing to hire Samantha Elauf, a Muslim girl, assumed because she wore a hijab and did not fit the retailer's "look policy."

"They've had this dug-in-mind-set as to what they think sells," Christopher Ho, the lawyer of a former Muslim employee who was fired after four months said to USA Today. "They honestly believe that their look policy is the key to success."

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Ten years ago, Abercrombie & Fitch settled a lawsuit brought by black, Hispanic and Asian-American college students for $40 million. The company pledged to diversify not only their marking and promotion practices, but also their hiring processes.

With Elauf's case, the federal government charges the "rugged casual wear modeled after the preppy look of the Ivy League," clothing giant with retailer discrimination "when it intentionally refused to hire Samantha Elauf because of hijab, after inferring correctly that Elauf wore the hijab for religious reasons."

"This is an extremely important issue that affects people of many different religious faiths," says Gene Schaerr, a lawyer representing 15 religious and civil rights groups in the case to USA Today.

If the ruling is in favor of Elauf, this could mean big things for job applicants who need time for religious observances or wear religious clothing.

"Accommodating religious practices is not always straightforward, in large part because it can be hard to tell who wants or needs accommodation," the company's brief to the court states. "It is generally the employee's or applicant's duty ask for an accommodation - not the employer's job to guess."

A federal district judge originally ruled in favor of Elauf, but then an appeals court reversed the ruling on the basis that it is the job applicants responsibility to ask for the exceptions, according to USA Today.

"Employers are not supposed to ask about religious views or practices," A&F argues in its brief. "Employers will be forced to rely on stereotypes in order to ascertain an employee's or prospective employee's religion, which will lead to an increase in discrimination suits against employers."

According to the litigation director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Jennifer Wicks, "This is a big issue in the United States -- how people view Muslim women who wear hijabs."

"A study by the American Civil Liberties Union Women's Rights Project found that 69 percent of women wearing hijabs have faced discrimination, compared with 29 percent of those not wearing such head scarves," explained USA Today.

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Elauf's case has been reviewed by the Supreme Court, and according to The Washington Post, the Supreme Court appeared to favor Elauf and her head scarf claim.

"How could she ask for something when she didn't know the employer had such a rule?" Justice Ruth Badar Ginsburg stated regarding the claim Elauf should have asked for accommodation for her hijab based on religion.

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