Suspended Muslim Flight Attendant Sues ExpressJet
Source: Law360
By Matthew Bultman
August 9, 2016
A Muslim flight attendant has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Atlanta-based ExpressJet Airlines Inc., claiming the airline refused to accommodate her religious beliefs and suspended her for refusing to serve passengers alcohol.
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relation filed the suit Friday on behalf of Charee Stanley, who says the airline placed her on administrative leave because she wouldn’t personally serve alcohol, in accordance with her faith.
Stanley contends the airline forced her “to choose between her religion and her job” and “acted with malice due to pique at [her] opposition and protestation at the denial of her accommodation request.”
The lawsuit, in federal court in Detroit, alleges a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and a state civil rights law. It seeks reinstatement of her position, as well as back pay and damages.
Stanley started working for ExpressJet in January 2013, which the lawsuit said is around the same time she converted to Islam. As she began learning more about the religion, she realized it prohibits her not just from consuming alcohol, but also from serving it to others.
In June 2015, she asked a supervisor for an accommodation and, at first, ExpressJet obliged, telling Stanley to make arrangements with the other flight attendant on duty when a passenger made a request for alcohol, the complaint said.
Things seemed to be going well, but a couple months later ExpressJet allegedly reversed itself. Stanley claims she was told she wouldn’t be allowed to continue directing passenger’s alcohol requests to other flight attendants.
“Ms. Stanley was told to either resign from her employment or keep her employment and serve alcohol in violation of her religious belief,” her complaint said.
The lawsuit said the change came after another flight attendant complained about Stanley not wanting to personally serve alcohol. The coworker also mentioned her hijab and book with “foreign writings.”
Stanley said she protested the airline revoking a religious accommodation it had previously granted, both in letters and meetings. In late August 2015, she was told she was being placed on administrative leave for 12 months, after which her employment would be ended, the lawsuit said.
Stanley’s case gained national attention last September when she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency issued a notice of right to sue and dismissed the complaint in May, without determining whether ExpressJet violated the law.
Representatives for the airline could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
Stanley is represented by Lena F. Masri of Council on American-Islamic Relation, Michigan.
Counsel information for ExpressJet is not yet available.
The case is Charee Stanley v. ExpressJet Airlines Inc., case number 2:16-cv-12884, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.