Imane Boudlal, who works at the Storytellers Restaurant within the Grand Californian Hotel and is a UNITE HERE member, will hold a press conference today to announce she's filing a discrimination complaint against Disneyland with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
She claims the Mouse won't let her wear her hijab on the job, and have sent her home without pay three times for doing so.Ms. Boudlal can't win but Disney will probably settle anyway just to avoid the press. And UNITE HERE hopes to be enough of a nuisance that Disney will give them what they want just to go away.
UPDATE: Statement from Disney.
Ms. Boudlal has worked for the company for more than two years and recently made the request to wear a hijab, and we have been working directly with her on accommodations. In the interim, we offered reasonable accommodations to allow her to work during her scheduled shifts, which she declined.