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US Supreme Court rules in favor of Muslim in hijab case

Monday, 01 June 2015 4:54 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 01 June 2015 5:05 PM ]

The US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Samantha Elauf, who sued after being denied a sales job at a clothing store over hijab. (file photo)

The US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who sued after being denied a job at a clothing store because she showed up to the interview wearing hijab.

On an 8-1 vote on Monday, the justices handed a victory to a federal agency that sued Abercrombie & Fitch on behalf of job applicant Samantha Elauf of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination, filed a complaint on behalf of Elauf against Abercrombie & Fitch, saying she is protected by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Abercrombie & Fitch had argued that its store policy bans sales employees from wearing "caps" of any type, and that Elauf, then 17, should have made clear in her 2008 interview that she needed a religious accommodation.

Supporters from The Council on American-Islamic Relations gather outside the US Supreme Court after the court heard oral arguments in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch on February 25, 2015. (AFP photo)

Justice Antonin Scalia said in the court’s ruling Monday that Abercrombie "at least suspected" that Elauf wore a headscarf for religious reasons.

"That is enough," Scalia said in an opinion for seven justices.

A jury eventually awarded Elauf $20,000, but the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado, threw out the award and concluded that Abercrombie & Fitch could not be held liable because Elauf never asked the company to relax its policy against headscarves.

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