CA Court Finds Employee in Hijab Brings No ‘Undue Harm’ To Abercrombie

That a hijab does not fit Abercrombie & Fitch’s “look policy” is not sufficient grounds to dismiss an employee who refuses to remove the religious head covering, a California federal court recently decided. The court found the clothing company’s claim that deviation from the look policy would cause “undue hardship” to its brand was not triable, as there were no complaints, disruptions, or negative sales impacts during the employee’s four months working for the company while wearing hijab. The court also found Abercrombie & Fitch’s other argument, that its employees are “living advertisements” for the brand, and therefore protected as commercial speech, to be invalid.