Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24026228

Retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) was found in yet another discrimination dispute for firing a Muslim employee for wearing her headscarf, claiming it would cause “undue hardship” to accommodate her. While initially allowing her to wear her headscarf in Hollister (A&F’s surf-inspired clothing label) colors, Ms Hani Khan was suspended for refusing to take off her covering and was soon later fired for “refusing to comply”. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit on behalf of Khan and found that the brand had not in fact faced any issues in sales in having to accommodate Khan and faced “deviation from its ‘look policy’ “.

This comes after the scandal A&F faced earlier this year where CEO Mike Jeffries had to apologize after an article for remarks he made in 2006 about the company’s exclusionary marketing strategy in avoidance of “unattractive individuals” went viral via social media. This was evident in that Abercrombie did not produce women clothing larger than size 10 where Jeffries claimed that “A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong.”

Both scandals that the company has been involved in is extremely unethical to me; in trying to create a brand image that was “luxurious” and “exclusive”, the company had to practice discriminatory acts to not only those of religious backgrounds but also those of certain body types. As said by Zahra Billoo of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), “no one should ever have to choose between their religion and work” – it is at the core of business ethics and ethics in general that no one should have face derogatory characterizations so as to fit a certain “brand image”.