Source: The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/us/08bias.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
On September 8, 2006 The New York Times reported, "Everything seemed to be going well, recalled Dena al-Atassi, a young college student planning a career as a diet consultant, until her prospective boss caught sight of the head scarf she wears as a devout Muslim. 'She said something like, What the heck is that on your head?' Ms. Atassi said in an interview at a recent Muslim conference in Chicago. 'I don’t remember the exact words, but I will always remember the derogatory tone.' Ms. Atassi, 21, said she argued that her head scarf would not interfere with her work, that the fleshy women who flocked to the Maryland office of the Jenny Craig diet chain where she had been a trainee seemed to appreciate the fact that she dressed modestly and avoided flaunting her own slim figure. But the supervisor in the Jenny Craig office in Florida where Ms. Atassi hoped to relocate last summer was not moved, she said, and the job never materialized. 'She wanted her office to look all-American,' recalled Ms. Atassi, who reported the incident to a prominent Muslim advocacy group at the time. Norma Hubble, Jenny Craig’s vice president of operations, said the supervisor in the Florida office no longer worked for Jenny Craig but 'to the company’s knowledge, neither Ms. Atassi’s religion nor her religious dress was a factor in any employment decisions affecting her.' Jenny Craig 'has a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of religion,' Ms. Hubble said in a statement, 'and it complies with all federal and state laws regarding employee requests for religious dress accommodations.' Cozette Phifer, the spokeswoman for Jenny Craig, confirmed that some staff members wore head scarves. Before Sept. 11, Muslim women who wore head scarves in the United States were often viewed as vaguely exotic. The terrorist attacks abruptly changed that, transforming the head scarf, for many people, into a symbol of something dangerous, and marking the women who wear them as among the most obvious targets for those who deem the faith threatening."