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Elazzab alleges she was also told she could not speak Arabic to Arabic-speaking customers because Value Village is “not an Arabic store.” She alleges that managers refused to accommodate her request not to work the night shift during Ramadan and threatened to fire her if she did not dress up for Halloween.

The claim also says Elazzab was consistently told never to interfere with shoplifters, or to argue with customers about the price of items, but she had difficulty following that policy.

According to the statement of claim, Elazzab was called into a manager’s office on Sept. 19 and told that he had video footage of her “helping customers steal items.” She denied it. The manager said he could tell that she was helping family and friends steal “because the people who were stealing in their video were Arab and black and because Ms. Elazzab speaks Arabic,” the claim alleges.

Elazzab’s claim states that if she gave anyone a discount or provided them with items for free, “it was in accordance with Value Village’s policy not to argue with customers about price.”

She alleges that after she was fired five other women, all women of colour, were terminated for helping their “friends and family” steal clothing. All the women deny the allegations, according to the statement.

In the statement Elazzab said she said after she was shown the videos on Dec. 11 that she did not know the customers. She alleges she was subject to sexually harassing text messages from one of the managers that same day, including one that said he would give her “Pumas” in exchange for oral sex.

Joseph Addelman, Elazzab’s lawyer in the fraud case, declined to comment on Thursday. However, he told the court his client would take to the stand in her own defence on Friday.