Chicken Express employee sent home for refusing to take off her hijab: 'Your job has nothing to do with religion'
An employee from a Chicken Express restaurant in Texas revealed that she faced religious discrimination when she was sent home from work by a manager for refusing to remove her hijab.
The hijab is a traditional headscarf worn by many Muslim women. A 22-year-old Stefanae Coleman went to work on Monday, December 30, wearing a hijab for the first time. She had recently converted to Islam and was excited to wear the religious covering. She was also hopeful that her coworkers would be supportive.
However, the single mother was left feeling quite the contrary and felt "disrespected, baffled and highly upset" when her manager citing dress code requirements told her she could not wear the hijab. As reported by CNN, Coleman shared, "Once I clocked in, the manager said 'take off anything that doesn't involve Chicken Express', which I knew he was talking about my hijab."
"So I didn't react, I just went to the back and took off my jacket and my purse. Five minutes later, he called me into the office telling me that I have to take it off because it's not a part of the work uniform," she added. Coleman has been working at the fast-food branch for around three months.
She was able to capture the exchange with her manager on two videos which she shared on Twitter. In one of the videos, the manager can be heard saying, "Your job is your job. Your job has nothing to do with religion." In another video, the manager says, "The job requires a specific uniform. [The hijab] is not a part of the uniform; you as a paid employee cannot wear it."
An attorney representing the Chicken Express franchise said, "The manager's decision to send Ms. Coleman home for wearing the headscarf was due to a lack of training. The manager was using a strict interpretation of the company policy that does not allow derivations from the standard employee uniform, and he, unfortunately, did not take religious liberty into consideration."
She returned to work on Tuesday after the store owner called to apologize for the manager's behavior. The experience resulted in Coleman feeling very "uncomfortable" and reconsidering whether she wants to remain employed with Chicken Express.