Muslims ask city to use leverage with hotel firm

"Muslims ask city to use leverage with hotel firm"

Text:

Muslims ask city to use leverage with hotel firm
Lawsuit in Kentucky prompts fears of discrimination
By Brendan O'Shaughnessy
April 13, 2007

"A developer planning to build a Convention Center hotel in Downtown Indianapolis has come under fire from local Islamic advocates concerned that the company will discriminate against Muslim women here.

"White Lodging Services Corp., one of the two developers of the proposed 1,000-room hotel, was recently sued in Kentucky for refusing to hire four Muslim women unless they worked without wearing a hijab, the traditional head covering for women mandated by Islamic religious teachings.

"The Muslim Alliance of Indiana, the Islamic Society of North America and a union group called Unite Here have asked Mayor Bart Peterson to make several demands before the city gives White Lodging and its partner, REI Real Estate Services of Carmel, more than $48.5 million in public subsidies.

"The advocates want White Lodging to meet with them, conduct diversity training for its employees, create protocols that prevent discrimination and allow its hotel employees to organize in unions.

"Peterson's administration last year chose the White Lodging-led partnership for the hotel that is part of the city's bid to host the 2011 Super Bowl, which requires a large number of nearby hotel rooms.

"The Merrillville-based company operates nearly a dozen hotels and restaurants in Indianapolis, including the Marriott Hotel Downtown and several Residence Inns.
White Lodging declined to comment.

"Shariq Siddiqui, executive director of the Muslim alliance, wrote a letter to the mayor in January and is spearheading the effort. He said Peterson should use the subsidies as leverage.

"'We're not against this deal or a subsidy,' Siddiqui said. 'But taxpayers have a say about how the city spends our money. We're saying if you want to get this incentive, you have to play by the rules of this country.'

"The city agreed to kick in about 20 percent of the $250 million construction costs in tax breaks and bonds financed with revenue from a new tax-increment financing district around the hotel. The final deal is in negotiations.

"Peterson said he was interested in sitting down with both sides to find a solution for a complicated issue. He said he has been concerned about a backlash against Muslims in the city since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"'I want to hear both sides,' Peterson said. 'A private business has a right within the law to do business as it sees fit. On the flip side, when you're doing business with a public entity, the public has the right to ask questions about who we're partnering with.'

"The City-County Council must approve any financial incentives from the city. Patrice Abduallah, a City-County Council member, a Muslim and an advocate of Muslim rights, has worked to pressure White Lodging into changing its policy.

"Abduallah thinks he has support from a bipartisan majority of the council to oppose granting a subsidy if the developer condones discrimination. He said he hopes talks between the company and the Muslim groups can reach a settlement.

"'If Muslims want to wear our attire and women want to be modest and cover themselves in the workplace, then I'm shocked that a company would take a position against that,'" Abduallah said.

"Lonnell Conley, the council's Democratic majority leader, and Scott Keller, a Republican who spearheaded earlier anti-discrimination efforts, said they have not heard about the case in Kentucky or Abduallah's concern about White Lodging's policy.

"Jackie Nytes, a Democratic council member, said Democrats have talked to union leaders about pushing White Lodging to allow union organization.

"In the Louisville case, four Muslim women claimed they were denied jobs as housekeepers at a Marriott hotel because they wore a hijab.

"The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit last summer after it found no evidence that wearing the hijab would affect the women's work performance.

"The lawsuit accuses the company of illegal discrimination for refusing to accommodate the women's religious practices. The women, who were sent by an employment agency, claim they were told they couldn't work after they refused to remove their hijabs.

"The case is pending.

"An attorney for the EEOC told the Louisville Courier-Journal that the case was the first of its kind in Kentucky but that cases of religious discrimination are common around the country. It was unclear late Thursday whether similar cases have been filed in Indiana because complaints are not made public unless the EEOC takes action.

"The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said it receives complaints at least once a week from women who have been told they could not wear the hijab.

"Siddiqui said the Islamic Society, a national organization, holds national conventions and would not hold one here if the Indiana Convention Center hotel allows discrimination. The society's convention could book up to 3,000 hotel rooms and bring $15 million in economic impact, Siddiqui said.

"Abduallah said Muslims across the world dress in a recognizable way as an expression of their faith. He often wears a fez, a rounded, flat hat that covers the hair, which he called a part of his personal style and community identity. It doesn't affect his work any more than his wife's hijab, he said.

"His wife, Helen Abduallah, said she couldn't imagine an employer not allowing her to wear the hijab. She and Patrice co-own a Near-Westside restaurant."