Disneyland OKs headscarf for Muslim employee

Muslim woman who said Disneyland wouldn't let her wear a religious headscarf on her job as a vacation planner or ticket seller - the second such complaint in recent weeks - has reached an agreement with the Southern California theme park and is now wearing a Disney-provided blue scarf and beret-style hat to work.This in an artist rendering of the uniform worn by a Muslim vacation planner at Disneyland.
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The 22-year-old Chicago woman, Noor Abdallah, was hired this summer as an intern after a phone interview. But when she arrived for her orientation in mid-August, Disney representatives asked why she had not mentioned her headscarf, says Munira Syeda, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Abdallah was told she would need to take a position with less guest interaction because a customized uniform could not be made before the end of her five-month vacation planning internship, says Abdallah's attorney, Ameena Qazi. But the council intervened, Qazi added, and within a week she was back on the job wearing the Disney scarf and cap.

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Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown disagreed, saying "we were working to accommodate her request, and had provided her an option similar to what she is currently wearing before CAIR got involved. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has a long history of accommodating a variety of religious requests from cast members of all faiths with more than 200 accommodations made over the last three years, and this instance was no different."


Earlier last month, another Muslim Disney employee who refused to accept a costume headpiece and several alternative jobs filed a federal discrimination complaint; that case is still pending and the woman, a hostess at the Storyteller's Café, has not returned to work.




"We live in an increasingly diverse world, and Disney needs to be able to recognize that diversity as well as accommodate it among its employees," says CAIR's Syeda. "Moving forward, this is a good first step, and we hope Disney will actually look into implementing a policy for Muslim women employees whose religious practice requires them to wear Islamic headscarf."