A Muslim flight attendant has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit after being suspended from her job for refusing to serve alcohol to customers because of her religious beliefs.
Charee Stanley, a Michigan employee of ExpressJet who converted to Islam a month after being hired by the company, has enlisted the Council on American Islamic Relations to help her in her efforts, Detroit CBS-TV affiliate WWJ reported.
“We notified ExpressJet Airlines of its obligation under the law to reasonably accommodate Ms. Stanley’s religious beliefs,” her CAIR attorney, Lena Masri, said at a news conference Tuesday. “Instead, ExpressJet chose to violate Ms. Stanley’s constitutional rights, placed her on administrative leave for 12 months, after which her employment may be administratively terminated.”
According to Masri, Stanley had an arrangement with other flight attendants that they would serve alcohol on her flights, but that stopped after another flight attendant filed a complaint against Stanley over her Muslim head scarf.
The executive director of CAIR-Michigan told WWJ News that the organization reached out to the company before filing the lawsuit, but that the response “was not positive.”
ExpressJet spokesman Jarek Beem issued a statement to WWJ News on Tuesday.
“At ExpressJet, we embrace and respect the values of all of our team members,” he said. “We are an equal-opportunity employer with a long history of diversity in our workforce. As Ms. Stanley is an employee, we are not able to comment on her personnel matters.”
Stanley contends her suspension is unfair.
“I don’t think that I should have to choose between practicing my religion properly or earning a living,” she told WWJ News. “I shouldn’t have to choose between one or the other, because they’re both important.”
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