Jae C. Hong / AP file

Imane Boudlal, right, covers her face as she leaves Disney's Grand Californian Hotel with civil rights coordinator for the Council on American Islamic Relations Affad Shaikh, left, in Anaheim, Calif. on Aug. 18, 2010.

Updated at 8 p.m. ET: A former Disney employee on Monday sued the California-based entertainment giant, charging harassment and religious discrimination against her based on her Muslim religion and ethnic origins in North Africa.

A Disney spokesman said the company tried to accommodate the religious beliefs of Imane Boudlal, but that the restaurant hostess rejected their efforts at compromise and quit coming to work. 

Boudlal, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Morocco, started working at the Storytellers Café, a restaurant at the Grand Californian Hotel and Spa in the Disneyland Resort, in April of 2008. She alleges in a lawsuit filed in federal court that management failed to address persistent racial and religious harassment from fellow workers and that it refused to accommodate her wish to wear a traditional Muslim headscarf or "hijab" at work, a dispute that ultimately led to her departure in 2010.

"Disneyland calls itself the happiest place on Earth, but I faced harassment as soon as I started working there," said Boudlal in the complaint filed in California Central District Court in Los Angeles. "It only got worse when I decided to wear a hijab. My journey towards wearing it couldn’t have been more American; it began at my naturalization ceremony. I realized that I had the freedom to be who I want and freely practice my religion."

In Islam, the hijab is an expression of a commitment to modesty and virtue by women, and those who choose to wear it typically do so at all times outside the home.

Boudlal worked as a hostess in the Disney restaurant — greeting and seating patrons.

Like other front-line employees and Disney cast members, she wore a uniform specifically designed for that position at Disney — in this case a long sleeved white shirt and western-style vest that are intended to evoke America at the turn of the 19th century.

Disney

Illustration of a head covering in lieu of a hijab that Disney representatives say was proposed to go with the Boudlal's uniform at Storytellers Cafe, a restaurant at its Grand Californian Hotel and Spa.

In 2010, after two years working at the restaurant, she requested permission to also wear her headscarf, a function of her growing religious conviction.

However, managers argued that the headscarf violated the restaurant's "look" policy, and could negatively affect the experience of diners, according to the complaint, drafted with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

Suzi Brown, director of media relations for Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, released a statement on the allegations:  

"Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has a history of accommodating religious requests from cast members of all faiths.  We presented Ms. Boudlal with multiple options to accommodate her religious beliefs, as well as offered her several roles that would have allowed her to wear her own hijab.  Unfortunately, she rejected all of our efforts and has since refused to come to work."

The lawsuit alleges that her managers did not address her complaints of harassment by other employees, who she says taunted her with names including "camel," "terrorist" and "Kunta Kinte," a reference to the slave in the 1976 book "Roots," by Alex Haley, that later became a television miniseries.

"In fact, the 'look' policy was loosely enforced in the restaurant, withseveral employees sporting tattoos, jewelry or hairstyles in violation. Christian employees were allowed to work with marked foreheads on Ash Wednesday, in spite of the fact that this, too, goes against the stated policy," the complaint says.

Boudlal said Disney refused her efforts to compromise, such as offering to wear a scarf to match the work uniform.

Among the proposals that Disney made were several different specially designed headcoverings for Boudlal.

Disney's Brown sent an image of one of these proposed garments — which she said was the third effort to meet the employee's religious needs and the company's 'look' policy before Boudlal "refused to come to work."

The other option for Boudlal was to work in behind-the-scenes positions, out of sight of diners.

Boudlal refused these options, considering them unfair and humiliating, according to the complaint.

"This is modern day Jim Crow," said Anne Richardson, a Los Angeles attorney who represents Boudlal. "Muslims who want to express their religion by wearing a headscarf have to work in the back, out of sight."

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Speaking to NBC News by phone on Monday, Boudlal said that after leaving Disney she was fired from another job after her manager learned of her dispute with Anaheim-based Disney through an Internet search.

Thus, she has suffered loss of income, as well as depression and anxiety, said ACLU-SC attorney Mark Rosenbaum in the complaint calling for a jury trial.  

"There has been real emotional suffering here," he said Monday. Rosenbaum declined to specify damages sought on Boudlal’s behalf.

In addition, Rosenbaum said the suit aims to force a change in Disney’s policies.

"You never see anyone working there wear a hijab," he said. "We want those practices changed, and want training for employees and managers. It’s about getting Disney to change its policies and practices."

In a separate case in 2010, American Muslim Noor Abdullah was told she could not wear the hijab while working as a vacation planner at a Disney Resort Esplanade ticket booth, and she declined to take a job out of view of the public where the hijab was allowed, according to a report by NBC San Diego.

Ultimately, Disney worked with Abdullah to create a head covering that met her religious needs and the requirements of the public position, the report said.

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In a move to help returning military veterans and "recognize and honor" their service, the Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday announced a new companywide initiative to train and hire more than 1,000 vets over the next three years.

Disney CEO Robert Iger made the announcement at a shareholders meeting in Kansas City on Tuesday. The theme parks and entertainment giant said it will also launch a nationwide public awareness campaign for other companies to follow.

"As a new generation of America's military men and women transition into civilian life, we are increasing our commitment and support for these modern day heroes," Iger said. "It's a measure of our respect for how much they have sacrificed on our behalf, and our sincere gratitude for their extraordinary contributions to this country."

The company said it also plans to contribute money to selected non-profit organizations that provide training and other support services to veterans. In addition, Disney employees will participate in service projects with veterans organizations throughout the country.

The "Heroes Work Here" program, according to the company, will span all areas of Disney's operations, including ESPN and Disney Parks and Resorts.

The company has set up a webpage to assist veterans in their job search.

In a similar effort, General Electric Co. in February said it planned to hire 5,000 U.S. military veterans over the next five years.

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The English Department at Rutgers University says it responded swiftly and “with severity and directness” after finding out that a graduate student sent an email to a group of students inviting them to a whites-only screening of the film “Song of the South.”

Carolyn Williams, professor and chair of the department, denied allegations contained in a letter to the editor of the student newspaper that department officials had refused to publicly acknowledge “the racist, discriminatory nature of the email.”

“The Department of English, like the rest of Rutgers University, finds bias acts unacceptable,” she said.

The controversy over the email was first reported this week by The Daily Targum, the student newspaper. The email was sent Sept. 28 by a white graduate student in the English Department to a group of students enrolled with her in a class titled "Post-Bellum/Pre-Harlem.” The student invited the group, reportedly also white, to watch a screening of the 1946 Walt Disney movie “Song of the South,” which some modern-day observers say is racist and stereotypical in its portrayal of blacks just after the Civil War.

The film, a blend of live action and animation, is based on the fictional African-American character Uncle Remus created in the 1800s by author Joel Chandler Harris. In the movie, Uncle Remus regales a young boy who runs away from home with a series of delightful fables.

"If you do come, hooch is most welcome, as are strawhats and other Darkeyisms. I might even buy a watermillyum if I get enough interest," the email read in part, according to the Targum. The email also noted that guests should be careful whom they brought, because "I might yell racist things at the TV."

Elizabeth Braxton, another graduate student in English, said she was upset when she found out about the email. In a letter to the student newspaper, Braxton and fellow students in a “Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in Education” class complained:

"This racist email, and the other students' reactions to it - including their silence - have now shaped the learning environment in their classroom, in much the same way as the department's failure to act appropriately has shaped the environment beyond the classroom. A few professors scolded the writer. However, no one in the department publicly acknowledged the racist, discriminatory nature of the email. This was a moment when faculty could have made clear the seriousness with which they regard the critical topics they discuss in the courses they teach.

A meaningful and important discussion could have taken place that may have changed or engaged people. Instead, an uncomfortable topic was largely avoided, and the feelings of the student who sent the email were prioritized above the pain of students of color, breeding resentment and misinformation about what was wrong with the email in the first place.”

Braxton said Friday she and her classmates stand by the letter but declined further comment.

Williams, in an email Friday to msnbc.com, disputed the assertion that department and university officials were lax in responding.

The screening never took place, and the sender apologized within a few days of the incident to the students she sent it to and to the director of graduate studies, Williams said. She then apologized again to her whole class in early October, Williams said.

“At that time, her apology was accepted. Nevertheless, the original email -- and waves of responses to it -- have of course continued to be hurtful,” Williams said.

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In a response letter sent this week to the Targum, Williams and Rebecca Walkowitz, acting director of graduate studies, wrote: “In fact we responded immediately with severity and directness; it could not have been misunderstood what we thought about the offending email.”

Williams would not say Friday whether the author of the email could face discipline, citing privacy rules.

The incident led to faculty-student meetings and a “civility forum” held Dec. 7, and a committee will begin work early next year on a policy addressing bias.

“The learnings are huge, for all of us -- and they will continue in the spring semester, when we are planning to have workshops, group discussions, lectures, perhaps a conference, and many other activities that will continue to educate our own department members (and perhaps others) about how to respond if such an incident were ever to occur again,” Williams told msnbc.com.

“We are committed not only to this educational mission, but to preventing bias in any form, and I look forward, with the department, to pushing forward with this initiative.”

It's not the first time Rutgers has found itself engulfed in discrimination controversy. In September 2010, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old Rutgers freshman, commited suicide after finding out that he had been taped -- allegedly by his roomate --  having a sexual encounter with another man. And the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights is also reportedly looking into complaints that Rutgers administrators have done little to respond to anti-Semitism on campus.

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