A flight attendant is fighting for her right to abstain from serving alcohol in accordance with her Muslim faith.
Cheree Stanley, a Muslim flight attendant for ExpressJet, filed a religious discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against her employer, according to USA Today. She says ExpressJet suspended her for refusing to serve alcohol on flights, even though her supervisor initially told her in June that she could work out an arrangement with her colleagues so that she would not have to violate her faith.
Stanley was placed on administrative leave on Aug. 25 after a coworker filed a complaint that she was not properly fulfilling her duties. The complaint also took issue with her headscarf and prayerbook. “She was disciplined as a result of following the instructions of ExpressJet,” Lena Masri, an attorney from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who is representing Stanley, told USA Today. “They directed her to do that — she carried out what she was instructed to do by the airline, and she was ultimately disciplined for that.”
In a statement to CNN, ExpressJet spokesperson Jarek Beem wrote: “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.”