Muslim flight attendant files lawsuit against airline
A Muslim flight attendant who was suspended after refusing to serve alcohol to passengers last year has filed a lawsuit against employer ExpressJet Airlines.
The lawsuit was filed by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) on behalf of flight attendant Charee Stanley.
It accused the airline of ‘revoking a reasonable religious accommodation and wrongfully suspending her from her employment’.
Stanley was placed on unpaid leave after a fellow crew member made a complaint.
Stanley converted to Islam after being hired by ExpressJet and the airline was aware that arrangements were made for other colleagues to serve alcohol on flights.
It was only after the complaint was made that she was taken off operational duty.
Accommodating her religious beliefs ‘did not and would not have imposed an undue hardship on business operations’, the lawsuit states.
“It was obviously seen as a reasonable accommodation and it was working for dozens of flights — so it was not an accommodation that was burdensome nor restricted people from getting alcohol on the flight,” Dawud Walid, executive director of the CAIR-MI told the New York daily News.
The lawsuit says ExpressJet is in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is seeking unspecified punitive damages.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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