Abercrombie Case Study

Summary

In 2008, Samantha Elauf applied for a job at Abercrombie. Abercrombie has a look policy that states that employees cannot wear any caps or headdresses of any kind. Ms. Elauf is a practicing Muslim and she believes it is necessary to wear a hijab (headscarf) everyday due to her religious beliefs. At the interview and prior to the interview, Heather Cooke had noticed Ms. Elauf wearing a headscarf. From the headscarf, Ms. Cooke assumed that Ms. Elauf was a practicing Muslim. Ms. Cooke approved Ms. Elauf for the job based upon the qualifications that Abercrombie was looking for, but she did not know if an exception would be made to the look policy. After the situation went up the chain of command, Abercrombie chose not to hire Ms. Elauf due to the fact that she was obviously a practicing Muslim and she believed that wearing the headscarf was necessary. Later, Ms. Elauf was informed she was not hired due to the headscarf. This action was said to violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The EEOC sued Abercrombie on behalf of Ms. Elauf. When the case made it to the Supreme Court,
Elauf was qualified for the position in all ways other than her headscarf. In this case, HR did what they thought was right. However, the choice did not work out in favor of Abercrombie. In the future, HR should be clearer about their policies so people who cannot meet their policies will not apply for the job. They should also have a plan in place for future situations like this one. HR should make sure that managers and interviewers for Abercrombie are aware of the policies and what is and is not acceptable. They should make decisions regarding what religious practices they can work with (prayer times, Sabbath observance, and religious attire) without causing what they consider to be "undue hardship." HR could also change their look policy to state what religious attire they can accommodate and the ones they cannot