A Florida Muslim woman was denied service at a Chevron Gas station after she refused to remove her veil, calling into question the issue of religious discrimination at the local station.
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La-Fleur Mohamed said she was refused service at a Boca Raton gas station because of her Muslim veil.
Mohamed told News 7 that:
“I’ve never felt humiliated like that before to get service from someone.”
Mohamed walked into the Chevron station and asked for $20 on pump number 1 but was refused service because the clerk said she couldn’t serve her without seeing her face.
As Mohamed recounts the story:
“I said, ‘Hi, can I please have money on pump number 1. She took my money and said, ‘You can’t come in here dressed like that. I said, ‘Excuse me, but this is my religious right.’
She said, ‘Well, I need to see you.’ I said, ‘No, you don’t. Please just give me $20 on pump number 1,’ and that’s when she threw my money back at me.”
Mohamed walked out and called 911. A deputy then showed up to the gas station. “He went in and asked her why she was not serving me,” Mohamed said, “and she said that it’s company policy not to serve people like me.”
According to Chevron they state that it is not their policy.
Brent Tippen, a Chevron Corporate Media Adviser released a statement saying:
“We fully believe that our employee acted without the intent to violate Ms. Mohamed’s religious principles and any suggestion that discrimination is acceptable at Chevron is completely false … We regret the misunderstanding. We have apologized twice to Ms. Mohamed and encouraged our employees to be more aware of potential diversity issues.”
As for Mohamed, she has hired an attorney on the matter and the South Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has taken up her case and submitted a complaint to the Florida Commission on Human Rights.
