[UPDATED:] Imane Boudlal, Battling Disney Over Head Scarf, Suspended Without Pay?


UPDATED: As promised, the Disney statement (see end of post) . . .

Sorry to disappoint the commenters demanding the Weekly to drop this story, but the Muslim restaurant hostess who has clashed with her Anaheim Disney Resort employers over the right to wear a religious headscarf on the job has been suspended without pay, according to her labor union.
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However, Disney Resort spokeswoman Suzi Brown immediately contacted the Weekly to deny the union's allegation and to reiterate that no disciplinary action against Grand Californian Hotel restaurant hostess Imane Boudlal
had been meted out by the company.

She was simply removed from the work schedule, Brown has reportedly said. 

UNITE HERE Local 11 union officials announced Tuesday morning that Boudlal was furloughed because she refused to either work in a back-of-the-house
job out of the view of Disney guests or wear a bow-tie bonnet and large
brimmed hat over her hijab.

The union added that Disney also offered a third option that very morning: that she wear while in public view an oversized chef's hat made out of the same material as her vest over her hijab, which she has asked to be allowed to wear during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

However, Disney also ordered her not to be photographed in the get-up, according to the union.

“I do not want to wear ridiculous hats that draw more attention to me,
while hiding that I'm Muslim,” Boudlal responds in a UNITE HERE statement. “I hope Disney will stop
making a joke of my religion and accept me for who I am.”

UPDATE: the official Disney statement: “Over
the last four days, we have made every attempt to provide Ms. Boudlal
with several different costuming options which we believe would
accommodate her religious beliefs and meet our costuming guidelines. We
also offered her four different roles that would allow her to wear her
own hijab. She's chosen to reject over and over again all the options
presented to her.”

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