In the latest chapter of a public conflict stretching back to 2010, a former hostess at a hotel restaurant in Disney’s California Adventure theme park filed a federal lawsuit against the company Monday, saying she was harassed and discriminated against at work because she is Muslim and a North African Arab.
Imane Boudlal, 28, is a U.S. citizen born in Morocco. She started working at the Storytellers Cafe in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in 2008. Two years later, Boudlal asked to wear the hijab, or headscarf worn by observant Muslim women, at work, but said she was suspended after rejecting Disney’s costume alternatives and offers of four backstage jobs away from the public eye. She filed a 2010 complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is still pending.
From the beginning, according to a statement by the ACLU of Southern California, which is representing Boudlal, “her coworkers and supervisors subjected her to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab slurs, such as ‘terrorist,’ ‘camel’ and others. She reported the harassment to her managers, who admitted a problem but never took action.”
“Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has a history of accommodating religious requests from cast members of all faiths. We presented Ms. Boudlal with multiple options to accommodate her religious beliefs, as well as offered her several roles that would have allowed her to wear her own hijab,” said Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown in a statement. “Unfortunately, she rejected all of our efforts and has since refused to come to work.”
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.
In a similar Disneyland case in 2010, a 22-year-old Muslim woman who said the company wouldn’t let her wear a religious headscarf during her five-month internship as a vacation planner or ticket seller reached an agreement with the theme park, and wore a Disney-provided blue scarf and beret-style hat to work.
Boudlal’s case asks for a permanent injunction requiring Disney not to prohibit employees from wearing hijabs, plus punitive damages and anti-harassment training for company employees that includes Muslim issues.