A Muslim flight attendant, Charee Stanley, above, claims she was suspended by a US airline company for refusing to serve alcohol in accordance with her Islamic faith.
According to this report, in a bid to get her job back, the Michigan convert to the Religion of Perpetual Outrage filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
She wants to do her job without serving alcohol in accordance with her Islamic faith – just as she was doing before her suspension, her lawyer said.
Lena Masri, an attorney with the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said:
What this case comes down to is no one should have to choose between their career and religion and it’s incumbent upon employers to provide a safe environment where employees can feel they can practice their religion freely.
Stanley, 40, started working for ExpressJet nearly three years ago. About two years ago she converted to Islam. This year she learned her faith prohibits her from not only consuming alcohol but serving it, too, Masri said.
But in this thread a retired airline pilot, presumably a Muslim, wrote:
It is not ‘haram’ to serve alcoholic beverages to others if you are a Muslim –
Nor serve meals that are not ‘halal’ … Why do Muslims always try to do ‘more/better’ than the Sharia law requires …?
Stanley approached her supervisor on June 1 and was told to work out an arrangement for someone to fulfill passenger requests for alcohol.
Said Masri:
It was at the direction of the airlines that she began coordinating with the other flight attendant on duty so that when a passenger requested alcohol, the other flight attendant would accommodate that request.
We know that this arrangement has worked beautifully and without incident and that it hasn’t caused any undue burden on the airline. After all, it was the suggestion of the airline.
It seemed to be working out until another flight attendant filed a complaint against Stanley on August 2 claiming she was not fulfilling her duties by refusing to serve alcohol, Masri said. The employee complaint also said Stanley had a book with “foreign writings” and wore a headdress.
On August 25, the airline sent a letter to Stanley informing her that it was revoking its religious accommodation to exclude her from service of alcohol and placing her on administrative leave.
Said Masri:
They placed her on unpaid leave and they advised her that her employment may be terminated after 12 months. We are requesting that her employment be reinstated and the accommodation of her religious beliefs be reinstated as well.
A spokesman for ExpressJet, Jarek Beem, declined to discuss Stanley’s complaint.
At ExpressJet, we embrace and respect the values of all of our team members. We are an equal opportunity employer with a long history of diversity in our workforce. As Ms. Stanley is an employee, we are not able to comment on her personnel matters.