KBR sued over headscarf ban

KBR, the Houston-based war contractor, is already facing numerous legal troubles -- over toxic burn pits, the electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers due to faulty wiring, exposing troops to a cancer-causing chemical, involvement in human trafficking, and rapes of women employees in Iraq. Now it's facing fresh woes for firing a Muslim employee for wearing a headscarf. A lawsuit was filed against KBR in federal court this month by Karen Tounkara, a contract nurse hired to prepare company workers heading to Iraq. When Tounkara showed up on her first day of work last December, she was told she couldn't wear her hijab -- a head scarf representing modesty -- because of a KBR policy stating that no employee can wear a head covering at work. Tounkara's attorney Darius Porter told the Houston Press that other nurses were wearing hats because of the cold weather and were not required to remove them.