What is wrong with this picture? Instead of assimilating into the country they have immigrated to or perhaps when they are even born here, muslims and islam continue to try and force their culture, their ideology, their laws, in this case, following sharia law, upon the rest of us. The hijab and burqua are symbols of how islam oppresses women. No other group or ideology sues and whines about how they are treated like muslims do. I know not all muslims are like this but the ones that behave in this manner, flanked by her 'friends'from numerous islamic organizations, give the rest a very bad image. This is just another form of jihad. Call it 'soft' jihad. It is positively stealth jihad. I am not impressed that this young lady recently became a U.S. citizen. Now this is a fine way to show gratitude to the country that gave you freedom and a new life?
I have mentioned this numerous times; wherever a small majority of muslims immigate to, trouble always seems to follow. I predict Disney will fold to islam's demands in this case. I hope not. You think she was 'encouraged' to do this? Let her go find a job in a muslim owned business or at a local mosque, where she can really be discriminated against and persecuted. Not too hard to see why comments for this article were turned off by the LA Times.
Disney restaurant hostess sues for permission to wear hijab
By Raja Abdulrahim, Los Angeles Times
Imane Boudlal showed up for her job at a Disney resort restaurant
Wednesday wearing a hijab and flanked by supporters, reporters and
photographers. Company officials say they offered to let her work "in a
backstage role, " but she declined and was sent home without pay.
Imane Boudlal filed a discrimination complaint after being sent home without pay for refusing to take off her headscarf. The company says it offered to let her wear the hijab "in a backstage role."
A Muslim woman who works as a hostess at a Disney-owned restaurant filed a discrimination complaint against the entertainment giant Wednesday, saying they have repeatedly sent her home without pay for refusing to remove her headscarf at work.
Imane Boudlal said she has worked as a hostess at Storyteller's Café in Disney's Grand Californian Hotel Spa for two years and began wearing her hijab Sunday but was told she would have to remove it or take a job working out of public view.
On Wednesday, shortly after filing a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Boudlal made her fourth attempt of the week — the first with videographers, photographers and reporters in tow — to begin her afternoon shift at the resort-district restaurant, which features a Chip 'n' Dale theme.
Boudlal said she was again told to take off her hijab, the headscarf some Muslim women wear. Boudlal refused and walked out of the hotel, flanked by chanting supporters.
"I've been sent home," she said. "I thought maybe today is my lucky day because I have my friends, my supporters."
Disney officials said Boudlal has never been denied the opportunity to work.
"She's been allowed to work," said Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown. "We've given her the opportunity to work in a backstage role the last several shifts that she's come in."
One backstage role the company offered was a room service cashier, an interim solution until a permanent one could be found, Brown said.
"Don't put me in the back," Boudlal retorted Wednesday, dressed in her work uniform of camp-style green slacks, orange vest and long-sleeved white shirt in addition to her white hijab.
Boudlal, who is from Morocco and recently became a U.S. citizen, said she approached her employer in June about wanting to wear the hijab on the job. She was told the request would have to be approved by the corporate office. When she followed up, she said, she was told the request was still under review.
Last week she was taken to the costume department to look for possible alternatives — a hat was suggested — and she was told she could not wear her own hijab, said Ameena Qazi, staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is representing Boudlal.
"We knew Disney is very sensitive to their public image so we said, 'Go public,' " said Leigh Shelton, a spokeswoman with Unite Here Local 11, the union that represents Boudlal.
Brown said the hijab would be a departure from the costume policy for Boudlal's role as hostess.
"It has to do with the costume, every role at Disneyland Resort has a specific costume," Brown said, adding that a number of employees wear religious clothing and work behind the scenes. She could not recall whether there were any who worked directly with guests.
Disneyland is working diligently to accommodate her request, Brown said.
The news conference, held on a street corner in front of the hotel where voices were occasionally drowned out by passing traffic as little girls in princess dresses walked by, was not without its references to the "Happiest Place on Earth."
"My advice to Disney company … take a ride on one of your own rides, a little thing called 'It's a Small World,' which celebrates human diversity," Qazi said. "Imane is just celebrating that same diversity."
