Monday, October 4, 2010

Disney's Dress Code vs. Religious Freedom

Workforce Management
September 2010

Imane Boudlal filed a religious discrimination complaint August 18 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Disney decided to fight it rather than depart from its long-standing policy requiring cast members to appear in regulation costumes on stage. By Liz Ryan

The Walt Disney Co. is locked in a high-profile dispute with an employee who claims the entertainment giant is restricting her right to practice her religion.
Imane Boudlal, 26, a hostess at the Storyteller’s Cafe in Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, says Disney is discriminating against her by forbidding her to wear the head scarf that her Muslim faith compels her to don. She filed a religious discrimination complaint August 18 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Interestingly, Boudlal began her job at the theme park two years ago and in June asked to wear a hijab, or head scarf, to work—a request her supervisors denied. Disney directed its costume shop to design a special hijab-incorporating hat for Boudlal’s costume (all “onstage” Disney theme park employees who face the public are called cast members, and their uniforms are called costumes), but she reportedly felt that the hat-and-scarf accessory was inappropriate and embarrassing.

Full Story: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/hr-management/disneys-dress-code-vs-religious-freedom/index.php

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