A federal company has sued the restaurant chain Chipotle, accusing it of non secular harassment and retaliation after a supervisor at a Kansas location forcibly eliminated an worker’s hijab, a scarf worn by some Muslim ladies.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Equal Employment Alternative Fee alleged that in 2021, an assistant supervisor at a Chipotle in Lenexa, Kansas, repeatedly harassed the worker by asking her to point out him her hair, regardless of her refusal. After a number of weeks, the harassment culminated in him grabbing and partially eradicating her hijab, in accordance with the grievance.
The supervisor’s “offensive and relentless requests” that she take away her hijab, and his try and bodily take it off, had been “unwelcome, intentional, extreme, primarily based on faith, and created a hostile working atmosphere primarily based on faith,” the grievance alleged.
Chipotle’s chief company affairs officer, Laurie Schalow, stated the corporate encourages workers to report issues, together with by means of an nameless hotline.
“Now we have a zero tolerance coverage for discrimination of any variety and we have now terminated the worker in query,” she stated in an emailed assertion.
The harassment started in July 2021, when the supervisor started asking the worker, who was 19 on the time, to take away her hijab as a result of he wished to see her hair.
In response to the grievance, he demanded to see her hair a minimum of 10 instances over the course of 1 month. She refused whenever, saying she wore it due to her non secular beliefs.
The worker complained to a different supervisor that the incidents made her uncomfortable, however no additional motion was taken towards the supervisor, the grievance stated.
One night time throughout closing in August 2021, the supervisor allegedly reached out and pulled her hijab partially off her head.
The next day, the worker gave her two weeks’ discover.
Chipotle didn’t schedule her for any shifts throughout these two weeks though different non-Muslim workers who submitted their discover continued to be scheduled for work throughout that point, the grievance alleged.
The lawsuit claims that Chipotle violated federal civil rights regulation defending workers and job candidates from discrimination primarily based on faith, race, ethnicity, intercourse and nationwide origin.
In its go well with, the Equal Employment Alternative Fee stated it desires Chipotle to institute insurance policies that present equal employment alternatives for workers of all religions and pay damages to the worker.
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