Chipotle has been sued for religious harassment by a federal agency on behalf of a former Muslim employee who alleges an assistant manager ripped off her hijab at a Kansas location.
The lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Kansas, claims that Areej Saifan was harassed by an assistant manager, who over a period of several weeks, continuously asked her to remove her hijab and show him her hair, despite her explaining that his requests were inappropriate.
The harassment culminated in the assistant manager grabbing and partially removing Saifan’s hijab, exposing her hair, the court documents said. NBC News was unable to reach the assistant manager for comment and it’s not clear if he has legal representation.
The alleged harassment started in early July 2021 at a Chipotle in Lenexa, 20 minutes from Kansas City, Missouri, when Saifan was 19. The assistant manager, who supervised Saifan, “began asking her to remove her hijab, telling her he wanted to see her hair,” according to the lawsuit.
Saifan explained to the assistant manager that she wore the hijab due to her religious beliefs and his requests to see her hair were inappropriate. The assistant manager continued to ask Saifan to remove her hijab, sometimes in front of other employees, about 10 to 15 times over the course of a month, according to the lawsuit.
The employee complained to a shift manager, who on at least one occasion asked the assistant manager to stop, but violated Chipotle’s policies by not reporting the harassment to higher management, the lawsuit states.
The harassment came to a head on Aug. 9, 2021, when the assistant manager allegedly “advanced on Saifan, reached out, grabbed her hijab, and yanked,” causing part of it to come off and her hair to be exposed. This incident was witnessed by the shift manager Saifan had complained to, according to the lawsuit.
Saifan reported the assistant manager’s behavior to the store’s field manager and store manager before ultimately resigning the next day as a result of the harassment and management’s failure to address it, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement, Chipotle Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Laurie Schalow said the company has “a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind” and has terminated the “employee in question.”
“Chipotle’s engaged and hard-working employees are what makes us great, and we encourage our employees to contact us immediately, including through an anonymous 800 number, with any concerns so we can investigate and respond quickly to make things right,” Schalow said Sunday.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges that the assistant manager was fired on Aug. 20, 2021, not for the harassment he subjected Saifan to, but for having a consensual relationship with another employee against company policy. The assistant manager continued working at the same location until he was terminated.
Chipotle did not respond to requests for comment regarding the reason the assistant manager was terminated.
The lawsuit also claims that Chipotle retaliated against Saifan by not scheduling her for shifts during her two-week notice period, and ultimately constructively discharging her because of her religion.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is requesting a jury trial and for Chipotle to adopt policies that provide equal employment for employees of all religions.
The federal agency also requests that Chipotle compensate Saifan for financial losses as well as non-financial ones, such as emotional distress, in an amount to be determined at trial.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
