it s a conversation that s been talked about a lot this week due to events that have been happening in kentucky. but now a muslim flight attendant says that she was suspended for refusing to serve alcohol. shari says she is employed by express jet and her faith doesn t allow her to consume or serve alcoholic beverages. she says that she s being discriminated against because of her religion. it s a case that as i just said strikes a kind of similar tone to that of the county clerk in kentucky who is in jail for contempt after saying that her faith doesn t allow her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. nick valencia is here with the details. that s what struck us is the similarities. there are certainly parallels but miss stanley s critics say she took the job before she had converted to islam and knew the job responsibilities. still, her lawyer says that her constitutional rights have been violated and that she s the victim of discrimination.
the point is here that our society places upon employers an obligation to accommodate the religious beliefs of its employees. they are required by law to ensure that there s a safe environment in place and that employees can practice their religious beliefs freely. of course there are limitations that accommodation must be reasonable but what we know here is that this is not an imposition on the airline because the airline made that suggestion and offered that accommodation. express jet has had little to say about the issue but a spokeswoman e-mailed this statement to us. at express yet we embrace and respect the values of our team members. we re an equal opportunity employer with a history of diversity in our workforce. we re not able to comment on her personnel matters. nick, first to you, how did she
essentially her company saying i can no longer do this, how can we work this out? she s had the job for three years. she was not muslim when she took the job. she converted a year after taking that job. she says it s against her muslim beliefs to serve alcohol. they come to an agreement and they have this reasonable accommodation where she doesn t have to serve alcohol. other airline flight attendants pick up that responsibility. it seemed to be working out just fine. two months later one of her co-workers complained saying she wasn t fulfilling her job responsibilities at which time express jet reviewed that accommodation and then suspended stanley for unpaid administrative leave so not only is her client s constitutional rights being violated but she s a victim of discrimination. do you see her as being a
on? reporter: this is no longer surprising. the faa says there are two reports every single day from pilots of helicopters or airplanes of drones flying uncomfortably close during takeoff or on approach for landing. near small, medium and large airports nationwide. a daily occurrence, despite the fact the faa restricts unmanned aircraft hobbiests from flying at five miles from an airport and highest altitude of 400 feet. four different planes on approach to newark just after noon sunday when flight crews spotted a drone at 2,000 to 3,000 feet, eight to 13 miles from runway 4 right. express jet 3267. northwests air, united 107, a boeing 767, and united 12, a 737. none of the pilates have head to take evasesive maneuver.
do you get a sense that they re trying to put people on flights on other airlines. i m actually sitting on a plane right now on united s express jet. we pulled up to the gate and people are waiting to get off the plane. i think people will start to get a sense if there may be an issue and they have a connection. as of now i think we re really in the midst of how we get to our next destination. i had to come back with my producer to go to work. we booked knowing that there was this ground stop issue just by calling another carrier. but i think other people are about to find out as we get off the plane here that their connections are in danger. before i let you go real quick you mentioned you noticed that there was something up even before you boarded your flight that you re currently on waiting in chicago. how long ago was that? so that was 7:30 central.