Tangs Now Intends to Allow All Employees to Wear Religious Headgear After Hijab Incident

Yesterday (19 Aug) news emerged that a promoter at a Tangs department store was allegedly told to remove her hijab in order to be allowed to work at a pop-up booth on its premises.

After standing up for the promoter, the business owner, who was selling handmade leather bags at the booth, was reportedly asked to clear the booth, even though the booth was supposed to run for three weeks until 13 Aug.

Tang said it was part of a “grooming standard” in their guidelines that dictated employees are not allowed to wear religious headgear.

But now, they’re changing their stance.

Tangs Now Intend to Allow All Employees to Wear Religious Headgear After Hijab Incident

Tangs said it intends to allow all of its employees to wear religious headgear while working, according to Mothership.

“Our corporate office colleagues and back of house employees wear religious headgear, and we plan to standardise this practice across the stores for all”, a spokesperson said.

This would mean that promoters, like the one involved in the incident, will now be allowed to wear religious headgear while working.

Tang’s announcement comes a day after one of its business owners made allegations against the store on social media.

Promoter at Tangs Department Store Allegedly Told to Remove Hijab to Start Work

She claims that her promoter – Nurin Jazlina Mahbob – who she had hired part-time to sell her handmade leather bags at the booth, was told by two managers from Tangs to remove her hijab in order to be allowed to work at a pop-up booth on its premises.

The business owner, Chin, detailed the incident in a Facebook post on 29 July.

Chin said the two managers were talking to her employee “in such a demanding tone”.

She stood up for the promoter and asked the managers for an explanation, to which they simply said it was for “professionalism-sake”.

The 20-year-old promoter said the managers didn’t even let her speak up during the encounter. “They just kept saying I couldn’t work there wearing my hijab because it’s against their guidelines.”

Guidelines? It can’t be that employees weren’t allowed to wear religious headgear, right?

Guidelines Had a “Grooming Standard”

While Tangs said its staff members would “never” ask anyone to remove their religious headscarf immediately, they had certain guidelines for employees who wanted to work at the pop-up booths on its premises.

Chin listed the guidelines in her post:

As you can see, promoters were required to wear a black polo T-shirt and black long pants, were not allowed to have coloured hair, nor permitted to use their phones while working.

Oh, and they’re also not allowed to wear religious headgear or accessories.

Chin, however, says she was not informed of the guidelines, and that the store only told her about the all-black attire rule when she was setting up her booth before its first day.

Nevertheless, Chin said the merchandiser asked her to tell Mahbob to remove her hijab, and also told Chin that she should not have dyed hair.

After subsequent verbal exchanges, Chin was told to clear her booth, even though the booth was supposed to run for three weeks until 13 Aug.

In her post, Chin said: “In today’s context, their restrictions and bullying behaviour is totally unacceptable. We need to call them out to make the necessary change”.

“Employers Should Be Thoughtful”: Zaqy Mohamad

Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad said in a Facebook post on Wednesday (19 Aug) that the incident raised an “important issue”.

“To me, this is an important issue for the community. Workplaces are an important part of the common space where people interact and work with one another regardless of cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds”.

“Employers should be thoughtful of the policies and practices they set, including inclusivity at their workplaces”, he wrote.

Zaqy said The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep), who confirmed it’s looking into the matter, makes it clear that “recruitment and hiring are to be based on merit and the ability to perform the job.”

As Tafep previously stated, religious attire should generally be allowed at workplaces, “unless employers have uniforms or dress code requirements that are suited to the nature of their work, or for operational and safety reasons”.

Zaqy urged employers to regularly review their policies and take into consideration the “views and sensitivities” of their customers, employees, and business partners.