Muslim Flight Attendant Suspended For Not Serving Alcohol
Joe Cortez September 08, 2015
ExpressJet flight attendant Charee Stanley
An ExpressJet flight attendant claims she was suspended after refusing to serve alcohol, citing conflict with her belief in Islam.
A Muslim flight attendant claims she was grounded by regional carrier ExpressJet because she refused to serve alcohol in accordance with her faith. CNN reports Charee Stanley, 40, is taking her case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in order to get back in the air.
Stanley claims she began working for the regional carrier in 2012, but did not convert to Islam until two years ago. In learning more about her new faith, Stanley discovered that her faith’s prohibition extends to serving alcoholic beverages, in addition to consuming them. When she brought her new concern to a supervisor, Stanley said she was directed to work out an arrangement with the second flight attendant on duty to serve passengers alcoholic beverages.
“It was at the direction of the airlines that she began coordinating with the other flight attendant on duty so that when a passenger requested alcohol, the other flight attendant would accommodate that request,” says Lena Masri, an attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “We know that this arrangement has worked beautifully and without incident and that it hasn’t caused any undue burden on the airline.”
However, Stanley said this was a short-lived solution and another attendant filed a formal complaint against her last month, citing her refusal to serve alcohol and carrying a book with “foreign writings.” Three weeks later, on August 25, she was put on administrative leave and told the airline was revoking its previous arrangements to accommodate for her faith.
On its website, ExpressJet says it employ over 9,000 people, operating 2,200 flights on an average day. In a statement to CNN, an airline representative declined to comment directly on Stanley’s case.
“At ExpressJet, we embrace and respect the values of all of our team members,” said ExpressJet spokesman Jarek Beem. “As Ms. Stanley is an employee, we are not able to comment on her personnel matters.”
[Photo: CNN]
English and German courts have a history of being over accommodating to members of large religions as long as their stance is somewhat mainstream ... she may have found inspiration abroad where such perks and privileges are regularly entertained ...
I am disappointed in the mean, non-inclusive nature of some of the comments here. They seem to attack the fact that this FA is Muslim, and that's not the real issue. What really happened is that this FA jumped on what I believe is a disturbing bandwagon in the US: refuse to do your job and carry out something that is perfectly legal and acceptable to most/many in your society. If you think that birth control pills equal abortion, or believe that drinking alcohol is an affront to God, fine, don't use those things. But if your job is to process marriage applications according to your state law, dispense prescription drugs according to state law, and serve food and beverages that are legal for people to consume in your society, then do that. Otherwise, you're not doing your job and you are just like someone who doesn't show up for work, or shows up high or is incompetent: both of you aren't performing according to the job description and need to be fired. And if you or your job description change after you start such that they are no longer compatible? Sorry crybaby, you need to get another job.
Such a non issue. If you get paid to work, then you should be expected to fulfill all of the duties of your job...period! If not, hire someone who will. I imagine that they probably have a policy prohibiting employees from drinking while on the job. I therefore should not get to work there because having to deal with rude flyers would lead me to drinking...more that is.
I wonder how long it'll take for the hypocrites who support the Kentucky Clerk to come out applauding the punishing of this FA because she's a "mooslim"..?
One option for her is to fly for airlines that do not serve alcohol. Egypt Air and Saudi Arabian Airlines are two I know of. So, we all have a choice of where we work. I think this person should be a good Moslem and not serve it. So, get a job on an airline that offer hooch.