PHI 445

PHI 445 Week 5 Discussion Abercrombie and Fitch is a clothing company that has been in business since 1892. They employee well over 60000 people and have stores all over the U.S. They present themselves as an upscale preppy company with attractive men and woman as employees. This particular lawsuit brought against them was regarding a woman who was not given a job at the company because she failed to provide and religious needs on the application when she applied. The applicant Samantha Elauf attended the interview and was wearing a head scarf during the process. When she did not get the job she filed a lawsuit against Abercrombie and Fitch for discrimination. The EEOC claimed that they discriminated against her for wearing a head scarf. She was able to file this lawsuit because of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits religious discrimination of any kind. Although companies are allowed to hire personnel that they see fit, they still must adhere to federal and state rules and regulations in terms of the hire process. I believe that the company image that was portrayed by upper management and their headquarters are the main reason that this law suit occurred. In an attempt to make the company seem cool and hip, the hiring practices within the company became tainted. They liked hiring model type men and women and because in this world beauty sells. Although it stated that there was a no cap policy, sometimes common sense has to prevail. I could understand if she was wearing a cub’s hat to the interview, but it was an obvious headscarf, which in many religions is a symbolic item. Knowing that, I believe more proper questions should have been asked in order to understand the importance of Samantha’s need regarding her religious beliefs. Now although I believe that more questions should have been asked, I don’t believe she should have been allowed to sue. It was up to her to write out and needs on the application that she had filled out initially, Her inability to do that is the reason I done believe the lawsuit should have had merit. The Hiring manager in this case made an assumption and in the end the assumption did not pay off. Religious discrimination is a very sensitive subject and needs to be carefully discussed at all interviews if the topic needs to come up. In terms of ethical theories I believe Utilitarianism is the best theory that fits the situation. Utilitarianism tells us what morally is right and or wrong in the workplace. Typically companies who act morally correct think about the consequences of their actions. This is not the case of what happened at Abercrombie and Fitch. By being selective in terms of who they pandered their clothing to, which were young wealthy and attractive men and woman, they alienated themselves from a huge portion of buyers. This in turn in my opinion led them to make hiring blunders such as the one with Samantha Elauf which not only caused them to get sued; it caused them to have a horrible reputation as a brand and employer. If they had done what was morally right from the get go many issues they had would have never happened.