Comments on: Sister wins £4,000 for hijab-related job refusal

By: Old Pickler

Old Pickler — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:29:39 +0000

but she was trying to earn a living

And Ms Desrosiers was trying to run a business. This was a trendy, funky salon, where Bushra Noah’s frumpy image would not fit.

Noah wants to have her cake and eat it. She self-righteously parades her piety, but wants others, that is non-Muslims to take risks on her behalf - in this case the risk that customers would be put off. No doubt, too, she got legal aid for her disgusting lawsuit from the non-Muslim taxpayers, including Desrosiers.

Desrosiers worked twelve-hour days and risked her savings to build up this business. Noah is a spoilt adolescent who has never had to work hard in her life - all she can do is cry and she is rewarded for this.

No, that’s too kind - she got £4,000, but the original suit was for £34,000, which would have put Desrosiers out of business. This is vindictive and malicious.

Would a bank be obliged to employ someone who turned up in shorts with piercings and tattoos? No, because the image wouldn’t be right.

Suppose a woman wanted to work in an Islamic bookshop and turned up in a mini-skirt and plunging neckline? She’d be rejected because she didn’t look the part. Can she sue for “hurt feelings”

And £4,000 for “hurt feelings”? It’s outrageous. People’s feelings get hurt every day. This whining, parasitical brat deserves not a penny, in fact she should have been made to pay costs to teach her a lesson about the real world.

Next time, Desrosiers and others will know to lie to Muslim applicants, and, rightly or wrongly, be wary of giving them an interview in the first place. Noah has done Muslims a disservice too - not that she’ll care as she cares only for herself.

Nobody will give Noah a job now - serve her right, except that she’ll be a burden on the taxpayer.

By: kaalimaat

kaalimaat — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:54:34 +0000

she had a job as a hairdresser before she went to syria to get married. Compensation for “hurt feelings”? Why did she not sue the other 25 employers who refused to employ her then?

By: Umm Salihah

Umm Salihah — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:54:27 +0000

I kind of felt for this sister, I recall her saying she had been to dozens of interviews and felt like she had been turned down every time because of her scarf. However, women who wear hijab and niqab face this kind if discrimination every day. I like the fact that rather than going to court to vent their frustration over dozens of incidents on one person, they use their ingenuity to work round these issues. Probably thats why most of the young niqabi’s I know are business-women and I recall the niqabi-wearing sister featured in emel last year who was a very talented make-up artist.

I’m not sure what image this projects, alongside the Shabina Begum case and the niqab-wearing teacher and lawyer cases. Are we litigous people that people will be scared to employ or strong women who won’t be treated unfairly?

By: Thersites

Thersites — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:10:26 +0000

But she might have been expected to cut men’s hair as other women in the shop do. Either Ms Noah knew of this, in which case it was hypocritical to insist on covering her hair, or she did not, in which case the shop-keeper’s mistake was giving the wrong reason for refusing to employ her.

By: Omar

Omar — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:06:20 +0000

Many hairdressers wear hats and some are even bald (style or not) - doesn’t make them incompatible with the industry. I think the employer was rude at her interview and on the grounds of being hurt is understandable. Although the girl should consider working for a Muslim salon - or open her own.

By: Indigo Jo

Indigo Jo — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:44:32 +0000

Maybe, but she was trying to earn a living and there is no reason why a woman who covers her hair would not be able to cut and style hair for women who don’t. After all, some women go to male hair dressers and they are unlikely to be advertising the styles they are giving the women either.

By: Thersites

Thersites — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:38:17 +0000

As the hairdessers’ shop is for both men and women there is something a tad hypocritical in a woman who feels obliged to wear a headscarf applying for a job in it at all.