After firing a Muslim employee in 2010, who refused to remove their head scarf, a U.S. federal judge in San Francisco has recently ruled that Abercrombie & Fitch did so wrongly. The retail company claims that the head scarf worn by Hani Khan “violated its policy governing the look of its employees”. The company also claims that if they were to stray away from this policy of enforcing a certain type of look, which is in fact one of their market strategies, it would negatively affect sales. According to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, A&F not only violated anti-discrimination laws but they also have no “credible evidence” that the presence of Hani’s head scarf would truly drop sales.
A&F has been known for their discrimination not only towards workers but also towards their customer. Recall earlier this year when CEO Mike Jeffries was exposed for making comments stating that the company’s clothes were not made to target overweight and “not so cool” customers. These actions taken by A&F show how important their image is to them and how reluctant they are to diversify both the targets of their market and to implement policies that increase diversity within their company. Clearly, the company prioritizes their own “look” before considering the religious rights of others and the anti-discrimination laws they are suppose to follow. If these are the business ethics that A&F are following, are they really a business that we want to see running in our society, one that pride ourselves in the cultural and religious diversity that is represented in our community?