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Chicago Sun Times - May 4, 2005
Suit says Muslim fired because of his religion
By Natasha Korecki
Choose your prayers or your job. That's the ultimatum an Aurora man says his boss gave him before he was fired from a suburban company two years ago.
Amer Mirza, a 25-year-old Indian Muslim, said the environment at Specialty Publishing in Carol Stream got increasingly tense and unfriendly as the U.S. war in Iraq loomed in 2003. Particularly when it came to his Friday prayers, Mirza said in a federal lawsuit filed this week by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on his behalf.
Before the war, Mirza said, no one questioned him when left over his lunch break for Friday prayers. Friday is the Muslim day of congregational prayer. But once the Iraqi war was under way, Mirza said, his female supervisor harassed him about his religious observation.
He said she would wait inside the building and clock Mirza when he exited and entered on Fridays. Once he was five minutes late and she allegedly told him to choose prayer or his work.
Mirza, a U.S. citizen who came here from India in 1994, said the harassment got so bad he was hospitalized with severe stomach and chest pains related to stress.
"It seems like I could just feel the hate building over there," Mirza, a Web developer for the firm, said Tuesday. "I feel it was very unjust. I don't think it should happen to anyone this way."
Mirza said he would understand if he didn't complete his work, but he said he stayed weekends and nights to get the job finished. He also said his boss characterized work-related comments he made as anti-female, under the assumption that all Muslim men mistreat women. He said the company looked for an excuse to fire him and eventually did in September 2003.
The harassment and firing is a violation of Mirza's civil rights because the company discriminated against his national origin and religion, the EEOC contends.
Mirza's attorney, Kamran Memon, a civil rights attorney who works with Muslim victims of discrimination, said he saw a spike in employment discrimination after Sept. 11 and again after the war in Iraq.
"Muslims who approached me in 2003 and 2004 often mentioned the harassment intensified around the time the U.S. was preparing to invade Iraq," Memon said. "In 2002, people were more likely to mention an incident where Sept. 11 might have been referenced."
EEOC statistics show discrimination complaints based on national origin jumped from 7,792 in 2000 to 9,046 in 2002. The number hovered at 8,361 last year. Discrimination based on religion likewise jumped from 1,939 in 2000 to 2,572 in 2002. There were about 2,500 complaints last year. …..
Gordon Waldron, an EEOC senior trial attorney, said the alleged harassment had a "connection to the popular mood at the time." The EEOC is asking for punitive damages, and that Mirza receive lost wages and that the staff receive special training…..
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-discrim04.html
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