According to an article in the San Francisco Examiner, a Muslim woman was fired from her job at Hollister, a clothing retailer owned by Abercrombie and Fitch, for wearing a hijab (Muslim Woman Says She Was Fired for Wearing Hijab. San Franscisco Examiner, 2/25/2010). A hijab is a traditional religious head scarf. The article reports the woman was employed as a part-time stockroom worker at the store's San Mateo, California location and that she spent some time on the sales floor. Apparently higher-ups in the company didn't want her to wear the hijab in public. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on the woman's behalf.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the government agency charged with enforcing all laws that protect us from workplace discrimination based on our race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the law that makes it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or employee, such as the San Mateo woman wearing the hijab, based on religion. The law also prohibits discrimination based on national origin, race, color and sex (including pregnancy). Your boss can fire you for wearing a hijab, but he or she can't do so legally. Religious discrimination in the workplace is illegal and if you experience it either as an employee or as a job applicant you can file a complaint with the EEOC as 3,386 people did in fiscal year 2009 (Charge Statistics: FY 1997 through FY 2009. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).
Most people would be shocked to learn that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is named in a federal lawsuit as an unindicted co-conspirator in funding of terrorism. New York Senator (D.) Charles Schumer titled CAIR “extremists”. They should call themselves the Council on un-American-Islamic Relations. (CUIR)