EEOC Sues Virginia Caterer Over Refusal to Hire Muslim Applicant in Hijab
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit on September 17 against National Food Enterprises, Inc., which operates the catering company Design Cuisine as part of Elior North America, in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia. The agency alleges the company declined to hire a job applicant after she told interviewers she planned to keep wearing her hijab while working, a religious practice tied to her Muslim faith.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious practice unless doing so would cause undue hardship, and bars refusing to hire someone because of a religious practice such as head covering. The EEOC says it filed suit after efforts to resolve the matter before litigation did not succeed. The case is EEOC v. National Food Enterprises, Inc., and the outcome is pending.
