A federal company has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Chipotle alleging non secular harassment on behalf of a former Muslim worker who alleges her assistant supervisor tore her hijab at a Kansas location.
The lawsuit, filed by the Equal Employment Alternative Fee on Wednesday within the US District Courtroom in Kansas, alleges that Areej Saifan was harassed by an assistant supervisor, who for a number of weeks frequently requested her to take off her hijab and present him her hair, regardless that she had made this clear. That his requests have been inappropriate.
The harassment culminated when the assistant principal grabbed Sevan’s hijab and partially pulled it off, exposing her hair, courtroom paperwork mentioned. The assistant director couldn’t be reached for remark, and it isn’t clear whether or not he has authorized illustration.
The harassment allegedly started in early July 2021 at a Chipotle restaurant in Lenexa, 20 minutes outdoors of Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, when Sivan was 19 years previous. The assistant principal, who supervised Sivan, “started asking her to take off her hijab, telling her he needed to see her hair,” in line with the swimsuit.
Sivan defined that she wore the hijab due to her non secular beliefs, and mentioned that his requests to see her hair have been inappropriate. The assistant supervisor continued to ask Sivan to take away her hijab, generally in entrance of different feminine workers, about 10 to fifteen instances over the course of a month, in line with the lawsuit.
The worker complained to the shift supervisor, who a minimum of as soon as requested the assistant supervisor to cease, however violated Chipotle insurance policies by not reporting the alleged harassment to higher administration, the lawsuit says.
The harassment got here to a head on August 9, 2021, when the assistant principal allegedly “walked as much as Saifan, reached out and grabbed her hijab, pulling it,” inflicting a part of it to return off and her hair uncovered. Shift supervisor Sivan had complained to attend the incident, in line with the lawsuit.
Sivan reported the assistant supervisor’s habits to the sector retailer supervisor and retailer supervisor earlier than she resigned the subsequent day on account of the harassment and administration’s failure to deal with it, in line with the lawsuit.
In a press release, Chief Company Affairs Officer Lori Shallow mentioned Chipotle has a “zero-tolerance coverage for discrimination of any variety” and has terminated the “worker in query.”
“Chipotle’s engaged, hard-working workers are what makes us nice, and we encourage our workers to contact us instantly, together with by means of an nameless 800 quantity, with any considerations so we will examine and reply rapidly to make issues proper,” Schallo mentioned Sunday. .
The EEOC alleges that the assistant supervisor was fired on August 20, 2021, not due to the harassment Saivan skilled however as a result of he had a consensual relationship with one other worker in opposition to firm coverage. The assistant supervisor continued to work on the identical location till he was fired.
Chipotle didn’t reply to requests for remark about why the assistant supervisor was fired.
The lawsuit additionally alleges that Chipotle retaliated in opposition to Saivan by not scheduling her to work throughout her two-week discover interval, and finally constructively discharged her due to her debt.
The EEOC requires {that a} jury trial be carried out and that Chipotle undertake insurance policies that present equal employment alternatives to workers of all faiths.
The company additionally requires Chipotle to compensate Saifan for monetary losses, in addition to non-financial losses, comparable to emotional misery, in an quantity to be decided at trial.