Hawzah News Agency-The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a St. Louis County woman who Says that a nationwide security firm discriminated against prospective Muslim employees, the group said Tuesday.

Securitas Security Services refused to hire Zahraa-Imani Ali, “at least in part, but likely entirely, on the fact that Ms. Ali wears the hijab as part of her adherence to the Islamic faith,” lawyer Robert West said in a statement announcing the suit.

The suit, filed Oct. 21, seeks monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees and seeks class-action status to represent other applicants.

The lawsuit says that Ali, a former correctional officer, applied for a job with Securitas in September 2015. During a phone screening that October, she asked whether wearing a hijab would be an issue, the suit says. The “recruitment specialist” said that there shouldn’t be a problem, but in a series of emails, a regional compliance manager recommended that the specialist “side step” and “pass on” Ali, the suit says.

“The mainstreaming of Islamophobia has made it much harder for American Muslims to gain employment because of religious discrimination,” Faizan Syed, executive director of the council’s Missouri chapter, said in a prepared statement. “We hope this lawsuit will send a clear message to all employers to follow the law and not engage in discriminatory hiring practices,” he said.