Federal agency sues Chipotle after a Kansas manager allegedly ripped off an employee's hijab

A federal agency has sued the restaurant chain Chipotle, accusing it of religious harassment and retaliation after a manager at a Kansas location forcibly removed an employee’s hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim women.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged that in 2021, an assistant manager at a Chipotle in Lenexa, Kansas, repeatedly harassed the employee by asking her to show him her hair, despite her refusal. After several weeks, the harassment culminated in him grabbing and partially removing her hijab, according to the complaint.

The manager’s “offensive and incessant requests” that she remove her hijab, and his attempt to physically take it off, were “unwelcome, intentional, severe, based on religion, and created a hostile working environment based on religion,” the complaint alleged.

Gork,

Chipotle’s defense is probably going to be, “We’re not responsible for the actions of individual franchise owners.”

0110010001100010,
@0110010001100010@lemmy.world avatar

Fun (maybe?) fact, all Chipotle restaurants are corporate owned, they don’t franchise.

Gork,

Cool, didn’t know that. That makes their court case stronger.

SeaJ,

Which, honestly, is understandable assuming they also take away the person’s franchise rights. I doubt corporate policy is to have people remove hijabs.

Potatos_are_not_friends,

That’s always been McDonalds defense.

“Oh, an employee took a shit in the deep fryer? We the McDonald’s corporation will write a strong letter denouncing shitting in the fryer and will forward it to the franchise owner. Now go and eat our other shit.”

Godnroc,

Forcefully removing an employee’s clothes without consent. Yeah, seems like there should be consequences for that.

calebcharles,

You would think a hijab is more sanitary than hair in a food service place.

thepianistfroggollum,

There’s no logic here. He wanted to control her and got pissed when it didn’t work.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

“Your hijab is not regulation. Here, have this much more exposed hairnet that does the same thing but not as well.”

stopthatgirl7,
@stopthatgirl7@kbin.social avatar

The employee complained to another supervisor that the incidents made her uncomfortable, but no further action was taken against the manager, the complaint said. One night during closing in August 2021, the manager allegedly reached out and pulled her hijab partially off her head.

That’s so infuriating - she reported the guy and nothing happened. Not until he tried to literally rip a piece of clothing off of her because he felt entitled to see her hair.

30mag,

It took two years for them to file a lawsuit. I hope that isn’t typical.

Potatos_are_not_friends,

Pretty typical when it comes to fast food employees. You got kids managing kids, who often don’t know shit about anything.

They probably brought it up to someone also inexperienced, who dropped the ball, and somewhere along the way, a actual professional realized the wtfness and moved it forward.

When I worked in fast food, my manager was two years older than me, and he didn’t know shit about anything not related to the food.

30mag,

I would think that neither of them would likely work there still.

Coasting0942,

Should have been a sexual harassment lawsuit. Dude literally couldn’t hear the word “no” coming out of her mouth.

sik0fewl,

Ya, ripping off any clothing should be at least sexual harassment.

bobs_monkey,

Ya, ripping off any clothing should be at least sexual harassment assault.

some_guy,

I detest religion, but I absolutely believe it’s wrong to violate someone’s religious apparel. But you touched on what makes it even more vile. I knew there was something that made this feel worse and it’s that a man felt secure violating the space of a woman. He should be charged for two violations. Thanks for articulating what I felt but couldn’t quite find.

FlowVoid,

The federal government won’t sue for sexual harassment, the employee would have to file a lawsuit herself.

Chainweasel,

Dude literally couldn’t hear the word “no” coming out of her mouth.

Oh he heard it, he just ignored it.

danielbln,

I gotta start filtering communities more, who gives a shit if some American backwater racist did racist things.

Haha,

The place becoming like Reddit. Just attempt at rage bait. I’m gonna block those communities and posts

stopthatgirl7,
@stopthatgirl7@kbin.social avatar

Funny, y’all whining about seeing something you personally aren’t interested in is the most Reddit thing of all.

comedy,
@comedy@kbin.social avatar

Thanks for the update man, I was on pins and needles wondering what you were going to do after seeing this story! Update us later on what you'll be eating for lunch!

YeetPics,
@YeetPics@mander.xyz avatar

Nice attempt at rage bait!

You don’t have to announce your departure, you aren’t a passenger jet lmao

SaltySalamander,
@SaltySalamander@kbin.social avatar

Please fucking do. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

NoneOfUrBusiness,

I mean you're literally on a community called news. What did you expect to see?

utopianfiat,

And yet instead of doing this, you replied? Seems like a questionable course of action

Nougat,

I do, and you should, because actively ignoring racists doing racist things, especially in a way that tramples people’s rights, enables those racists, and enables those rights tramplers.

You’re the guy who says nothing at a table full of Nazis.

YeetPics,
@YeetPics@mander.xyz avatar

who gives a shit

I do. And I think I’m not alone.

You can block communities by clicking the ellipses, I hope that helps 🤡

Don’t forget to make a post about how unpleased you are with the discussions and announcing your departure so we call all cheer and flip you the bird as you leave.

SaltySalamander,
@SaltySalamander@kbin.social avatar

Please do, and leave while you're at it.

h3mlocke,

“Don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya!” 👋

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • [email protected]
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • oklahoma
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • SuperSentai
  • feritale
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines
    •