Who gets to work at Abercrombie? The Supreme Court is set to decide whether Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against a job applicant because of her Muslim veil.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: Cover story

Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't just sell clothes; it sells an image of a beautiful all-American life. For years, the good-looking, shirtless young men who stood at the stores' entrances beckoned shoppers to be part of the fantasy experience. Loud music played in the dimly lit stores, which were pumped full of perfume.

The company still refers to its sales staff as "models" and "living advertisements," and they're meant to look the part of the image they're selling: young, beautiful, and clean-cut. The company's "look policy"--which calls for a "classic East Coast collegiate style"--spells out what sales staff can wear: no hats, no black clothing, no facial hair. Women's hair should be long and nail polish is discouraged.

So what happens when a teenager who doesn't fit that mold walks into a store and asks to work there? Samantha Elauf was 17 when she applied for a job at an Abercrombie Kids store in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Elauf, an observant Muslim, showed up for an interview wearing a T-shirt and jeans--and a black head scarf.

She didn't get the job.

Abercrombie & Fitch says the head scarf, known as a hijab, clashed with its dress code. But in a case now before the Supreme Court, Elauf claims the company discriminated against her because of her religion.

"I was a teenager who loved fashion," says Elauf, now 24. "No one had ever told me that I could not wear a head scarf and sell clothing. "

Freedom of Religion

The case, E.E.O.C. v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, asks the Court to weigh in on an important question involving the religious freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution: How far should private companies have to go to accommodate the religious beliefs of their employees?

"The balancing act is between the applicant who's saying her religious rights were infringed and the employer who has a right to hire who they want," says Barbara McGraw, a law and ethics professor at Saint Mary's College of California.

The First Amendment to the Constitution protects the right of all Americans to freely practice their religion. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits religious discrimination in hiring by public and private companies and by federal, state, and local governments. (It also prohibits racial and gender discrimination.) Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers must make a "reasonable accommodation" to an employee's religious beliefs unless that accommodation puts an "undue burden" on the employer.

Abercrombie says it "has a longstanding commitment to diversity" and has "granted numerous religious accommodations when requested, including hijabs."

But it's not the first time the company has faced allegations of discrimination. In 2004, it paid $40 million to settle a lawsuit brought by black, Hispanic, and Asian groups who claimed minority job applicants were steered toward low-visibility jobs. In 2009, British authorities found that the company had wrongfully dismissed a young employee who refused to be banished to the stockroom because she had a prosthetic arm. And in 2013, a federal judge in California ruled that Abercrombie discriminated against a 19-year-old Muslim working at Hollister who refused to take off her hijab to conform to the dress code. (Hollister is owned by Abercrombie & Fitch.)

After Elauf didn't get the job at Abercrombie Kids in 2008, she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (E.E.O.C.), the federal agency that enforces the laws that prohibit workplace discrimination. The E.E.O.C. sued Abercrombie on her...