The EEOC Scores Summary Judgment Win In Religious Discrimination Case

In an opinion issued on September 3, 2013, in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., Case No. 11-CV-03162 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 3, 2013), Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted the EEOC’s motion for summary judgment, finding Abercrombie & Fitch failed to reasonably accommodate a Muslim employee who sought to wear a head scarf at work despite Abercrombie’s “Look” Policy. In addition to granting the EEOC’s motion for summary judgment on liability (and conversely denying Abercrombie’s cross-motion as to liability), Judge Rogers granted the EEOC’s motion for summary judgment as to several of Abercrombie’s affirmative defenses, including that the EEOC failed to conciliate in good faith; that Abercrombie’s Look Policy is protected under the U.S. Constitution as commercial free speech; and that punitive damages and injunctive relief are not warranted. 

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