The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who had filed a discrimination lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch after the retailer refused to hire her because she wore a head scarf, or hijab, to her job interview in observance of her religion. The company released a statement saying the scarf conflicted with its dress code, the New York Times reported.
The court ruled 8-1, siding with the plaintiff, Samantha Elauf, saying that A&F had failed to accommodate the complainant's religious needs when she was refused a job on the basis that her hijab clashed with the company's dress code policy, according to Reuters.
The court's decision will go down as a historic win for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that filed a suit against Abercrombie and Fitch on Elauf's behalf.
"Observance of my faith should not have prevented me from getting a job. I am glad that I stood up for my rights, and happy that the EEOC was there for me and took my complaint to the courts," Elauf said in a statement released by the EEOC, Reuters reported.
Initially, Elauf won a $20,000 judgment against A&F, but the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the decision and ruled in favor of the retailer, saying the trial judge should have dismissed the case before it made it to trial. "Ms. Elauf never informed Abercrombie before its hiring decision that she wore her head scarf, or 'hijab,' for religious reasons," said Judge Jerome A. Holmes in the appeals court's decision, according to the New York Times.
The Supreme Court has returned the case to the appeals court for further consideration, however, after Monday's judgment, Elauf is likely to win.
