http://news.ibn.net/newsframe.asp?url=http...en.asp?url=cinh
ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 6, 2006
A Muslim woman who claims she was denied employment after she refused to remove a head scarf worn for religious reasons is accusing a Des Moines convenience store chain of violating her religious rights.
In the lawsuit, Aaliyah Withers-Johnson claims officials at Git-N-Go Convenience Stores Inc. told her she could not work for the company if she insisted on wearing the head scarf, known as a hijib, worn as part of her Islamic faith.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Des Moines, accuses the company of racial and religious discrimination.
Withers-Johnson, who also is black, claims she wore the scarf to her initial job interview for a position as a store clerk on March 11, 2005, was offered a position and told to report six days later for training.
But at the training session, Withers-Johnson claims she was immediately pulled aside by a company official and told she would not be able to start ‘‘because of the thing you are wearing on your head,’’ the lawsuit said.
Officials say company policy prohibits employees from wearing caps, scarves or anything on their head.
Withers-Johnson told the official the scarf was required as part of her faith then asked if she was not being hired because of it, the lawsuit said.
The officials responded by saying: ‘‘If I let you wear it then everyone else is going to want to,’’ according to the lawsuit.
‘‘It shows that not everyone is always as sensitive as they need to be to people’s religious beliefs,’’ said Jill Zwagerman, the woman’s attorney. ‘‘Her general reaction was pretty obvious when her religious attire was compared to a baseball cap or a scarf.’’
Withers-Johnson, who is a U.S. citizen and student at Drake University, is seeking an unidentified amount for lost wages and benefits and punitive damages.
She also wants a judge to bar the company from future discrimination of race-based stereotypes, require sensitivity training throughout the company and impose mandatory race bias testing on upper management officials.
A telephone message left Monday for attorneys for Git-N-Go wasn’t immediately returned.
The company operates as many as 38 stores in the Des Moines area