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Muslim civil liberties org calls for apology from Air France
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on Air France for a formal apology after a Muslim passenger service agent at Washington Dulles International Airport allegedly fell victim to the fashion police and was told she could not wear her head scarf because of an Air France dress code.After refusing to disregard her religions beliefs and practices by taking off her hijab, a head covering that hides hair and drapes over the neck, the woman was sent home. France enacted a controversial "burqua ban" in April that affected up two 2,000 women who wore head-to-toe veils in public.
"It is clear that a discriminatory dress code implemented in France would not superseded American laws protecting the religious rights of employees. Air France must follow American law and grant reasonable religious accommodations for its employees," wrote CAIR Staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas in a letter to Patrick Roux, vice president and general manager of Air France, U.S. Operations.
Abbas maintains this case is symptomatic of the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in American society, and points to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion.
It is unclear how long the woman worked for Air France before the incident took place.
[Photo by Orrling, Wikimedia Commons]
Filed under: North America, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Faiz Jun 22nd 2011 4:23PM
I hope that foreign companies comply with US laws regarding discrimination (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964).
farabeemike66 Jun 22nd 2011 5:52PM
This is probably the only thing I will ever applaud France for. At least they are taking a stand against the muslim invasion of the western world. It is high time all of the west start standing up and saying no to these people most of whom want to kill westerners in the name of allah. CAIR is another front group that gets our tax dollars and funnels who knows how much to terrorist organisations all over the world. It is time to defund them. No apologies for doing the right thing.
Julie Jun 23rd 2011 9:20AM
I am french and I have to admit that american are much more tolerant than we are on some point...such as on secularity stuff, which is a good thing. In France there's a lot of work because unfortunately there's a lot of racism/ but please stop confusing islam and terrorism; a veil and a bomb.
If you prevent someone to dress as he wants, where is the freedom?
The women in this article is just a citizen who is working, not a muslim, a citizen! so she has the right to wear what she likes, this is how freedom should be.
siddhi Jun 30th 2011 11:16PM
Clearly intolerant, she was merely covering her hair not her face. The Burqa ban on the other hand is not intolerant. Civil society does require that you be able to identify a victim or perpetrator and you can't with a Burqa.