Alamo ordered to pay Muslim woman more than $280,000 for discrimination

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Workers Independent News

Alamo ordered to pay Muslim woman more than $280,000 for discrimination - 06/04/07

A Muslim woman has been awarded more than $280,000 in damages after Alamo-Rent-A-Car fired her for wearing a head scarf to work. Bilan Nur was fired just four months after the September 11th attacks in 2001. She had been asked to remove a head scarf during the holy month of Ramadan and refused. As a result she was fired. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit on her behalf alleging religious discrimination. The court agreed and the jury determined an award of $287,640.




Read more: http://www.laborradio.org/node/6072

[Solo_in_MD]

1. Classic conflict between reasonable accomodation and uniform policies

And a loser for companies. However, that is about as far as the company needs to go. Look at the taxicabs in Minn for another view.

The articles I have seen do not say if it was it was a franchisee or a corporate location.

[provis99]

2. this article doesn't have enough information

why did they ask her to remove the khimar during Ramadan? Was she allowed to wear it otherwise? Did she otherwise not wear it? Had she worn it before 9/11? Context is needed here.

[Solo_in_MD]

4. Indeed, another missing facet was front office (public) or back office.

[JerseygirlCT]

11. Those cab drivers are attempting to control others' actions

not their own attire.

That's a big difference.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[customerserviceguy]

5. Well, here's one atheist

wondering if people here would feel the same way about a big fucking death-torture device (a cross) around her neck?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. Lay down the straw men, you two. We ain't idiots.

1) YES, this was discrimination and I'm glad she got to ream a bigoted employer, hard.

2) Who in the USA has ever been fired for wearing a cross necklace?

3) If you are an atheist, I am Mick Jagger.

[plessy123]

8. Selective discrimination?

Is it also discrimination when Muslim taxidrivers at Minneapolis' Airport refuse to take passengers because they think they may be carrying alcohol in their baggage?

Should Muslim taxidrivers be fined $280,000 for refusing to take passengers with seeing eye dogs?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Those people, if real, are assholes, but if you want to get worked up about bad Muslims...

...turn your attention to Bush's pals the Saudis. THEY beat every communist dictatorship out there on the "Hell on Earth" department.

[dmallind]

6. And here's another

saying that it doesn't matter as long as she meets the conditions of employment and they are universally applied.

Is there a company policy against head coverings and was this in place when she was hired (or put in place at a later time after which she continued to work and comply)? Then sorry choose between the job and the scarf and quit whining.

Was this a management decision explicitly or exclusively targeted towards Muslims per se - in other words can white folks wear baseball caps or Stetsons? Then you dumbass that's discrimination and you're lucky $280K is all it cost.

Next time you might want to ASK what atheists think instead of assuming. Especially since by definition atheism applies only to absence of god belief and says nothing about what should be the atheist's opinion on workplace accommodation rules. I suspect you'll find they run the gamut.

[Omaha Steve]

10. A little more from today's news @ first amendment center.org

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=18628

Company must pay Muslim woman for banning scarf

By The Associated Press
06.04.07

PHOENIX — A federal jury has ordered Alamo Rent A Car to pay a Muslim woman $287,640 for firing her because she refused to remove a head scarf she was wearing during the holy month of Ramadan.

The firing of Bilan Nur, then 22, came just four months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the company for what it termed a “post 9/11 backlash,” alleging that she was fired because of her religious beliefs in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn O. Silver ruled last year that the government had proven religious discrimination and Alamo had shown no proof that it had taken reasonable steps to allow Nur to follow her beliefs before firing her.

That left the jury in the trial that ended June 1 with only the question of how much damages to award, said Mary Jo O’Neill, the regional attorney for the EEOC.

The jury in the three-day trial awarded Nur $21,640 in back wages, $16,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.

Nur, a Somali who fled the war-ravaged country and came to the U.S. in 1998, was hired by Alamo as a rental agent at its Phoenix office in November 1999. Her job performance was described as “fine,” until the events leading to her firing, Judge Silver wrote in her ruling.

FULL story at link.