Good News: NJ Banks Remove Posters Banning Hijab

(SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ, 10/4/2013) — Following intervention by the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ), Century Savings Bank officials say they have removed posters announcing a policy banning “hats, hoods, headgear, and sunglasses” for security purposes.

The posters had an image of a woman wearing hijab (head scarf), along with images of a woman in sunglasses, a man in a hard-hat, and a man wearing a cap.

Yesterday, CAIR-NJ asked the bank to review that “inappropriate and discriminatory” policy that would impact Muslim women wearing scarves, observant Sikh and Jewish men who wear turbans and yarmulkes respectively, and would logically be applied to Orthodox Jewish women who often wear wigs for religious reasons or Catholic nuns who wear habits.

“We thank Century Savings Bank for taking prompt action to avoid the appearance that they discriminate against those who wear certain attire for religious reasons,” said CAIR New Jersey Civil Rights Director Khurrum Ali

Ali said CAIR-NJ will work with bank officials to craft a policy that ensures both security and religious freedom.

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