Abercrombie & Fitch has once again lost a diversity and inclusion battle this time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the company was wrong to turn down a Muslim job applicant because she wore a headscarf. The company had said the scarf didn’t fit its dress code, which required a “classic East Coast collegiate style.”
The Supreme Court’s decision means that failing to accommodate religious practices and observations is discrimination, unless the accommodation provides a major hardship for employers.
This is the second time this term the court has handled a religious accommodation involving a Muslim planitiff. The other case, in January, was Holt vs. Hobbs, in which the court unanimously found that Arkansas federal officials discriminated when they refused to allow a Muslin prisoner to grow a beard. Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, a controversial religious-freedom case decided at the end of the last term, ruled that companies could refuse to cover contraception on insurance plans because of owners’ beliefs.
