A Muslim woman who sued Disney last week for refusing to let her wear a religious headscarf at her job as a Disneyland Resort restaurant hostess says she has been suspended without pay for turning down the company’s alternatives - including a large hat and bow-tie bonnet she called “humiliating” and “embarrassing.”
According to her union, Unite Here Local 11, Imane Boudlal was suspended Tuesday after rejecting both a Disney-made hijab, or headscarf, and offers of four “backstage” jobs out of the public eye.
But Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown said that while the company had not scheduled Boudlal for future work hours, Boudlal’s characterization was inaccurate.
“Over the last four days we have made every attempt to provide Ms. Boudhal with several different costuming options which we believe would accommodate her religious beliefs and meet our costuming guidelines,” said Brown in a prepared statement.
“We also offered her four roles” - three phone-based positions and one bakery job, all of which paid at least as much as what she was making as a hostess at the Grand Californian Hotel - “that would allow her to wear her own hijab,” the statement added. “She’s chosen to reject over and over again all the options presented to her.”
Disney’s strict dress code prohibits “cast members,” or employees who meet the public, from wearing religious items. But the company has worked to accommodate employees’ concerns by allowing such modifications as longer sleeves and skirts instead of pants. In 2004, Disney World in Florida was sued by a female Muslim employee who wanted to wear a headscarf to work. The case was settled out of court and the terms were confidential.
Boudlal, a U.S. citizen who was born in Morocco, has been employed at the Western-themed Storyteller’s Cafe for more than two years. She said that while she has worn a headscarf off the job for the past year, she decided she had the right to wear her hijab to work after studying for her citizenship exam in June and reading a Disney manual that mentioned an accommodation policy for religious beliefs.
She said she had requested a Disney-made headscarf more than two months ago, and when she arrived at the restaurant Aug. 15 wearing her own, she was told to remove it or go home. She filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last Wednesday.
“I’m not a character in a role, I just wear a uniform,” said Boudlal, who added that she has been willing to accept a “simple and decent” Disney alternative but is unwilling to move to a behind-the-scenes job “because I’d feel humiliated.”
“The point is, they don’t want anyone to look Muslim or different,” she said.
Disney has been in a contract dispute with Boudlal’s 2,100-member-strong local hotel union for more than two years. During that time, the union has held a one-day strike, weeklong fast, walkouts and dozens of protests. But Boudlal says the union “had nothing to do with” her original request.