WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court of United States ruled in favour of a Muslim woman who sued Abercrombie & Fitch Co clothing store in Oklahoma after she wore a head scarf for religious motives.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency that sued the company on behalf of Samantha Elauf was declared victorious on an 8-1 votes from a nine-judge bench in Supreme Court of US.
The court was considering the legal question that whether Elauf was required to ask for a religious accommodation in order for the company to be sued under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which, among other things, bans employment discrimination based on religious beliefs and practices.
In an opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia, ruled that Elauf needed only to show that her need for an accommodation was a motivating factor in the employer’s decision.
“A request for accommodation … may make it easier to infer motive, but it is not a necessary condition of liability,” Scalia wrote.
Justice Clarence Thomas was the only dissident. He said that “mere application of a neutral policy” should not be viewed as discrimination.
Elauf wore a headscarf during a job interview but did not specifically demanded any sort of religious accommodation as a Muslim. The company denied Elauf the job on the grounds that wearing the scarf violated its “look policy” for members of the sales staff, a policy intended to promote the brand’s East Coast collegiate image.
Muslim groups said in a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Elauf that employment discrimination against Muslims is widespread in the United States. Often, the act of a woman wearing a head scarf is what triggers the discrimination, according to the brief.
The EEOC also revealed that employment claims about discrimination and the failure to provide religious accommodations are more filed by Muslims than any other religious group.
Groups representing Christians, Jews and Sikhs also filed court papers backing Elauf.
