Latest news with #JihadHamoud
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Boss told cops to ‘keep an eye on' Muslim worker during prayer, MN suit says
A former employee of a Minnesota transportation agency said religious discrimination and retaliation forced him to leave his job, according to a lawsuit. The complaint — filed June 3 on behalf of Jihad Hamoud, a practicing Muslim — accuses regional planning agency Met Council of disciplining and humiliating him. It says that came after he reported faith-based discrimination, including one occasion where a supervisor directed police to 'keep an eye on' him while he prayed. A spokesperson for Met Council in Saint Paul told McClatchy News in a June 6 email they do not comment on ongoing litigation. 'With its power and resources, Met Council should be setting the standard for what an inclusive and respectful workplace looks like,' Naomi Martin, Hamoud's attorney, said in a June 5 news release. 'That starts with ensuring discrimination and retaliation have no place in its operations — especially by those in supervisory roles.' The lawsuit comes as the state of Minnesota continues to see increases in instances of anti-Muslim hate, attorneys said. Religious discrimination experiences According to the complaint, Hamoud was hired as a bus operator at the agency in 2010 and then transferred to facilities maintenance in 2019. He began recording his experiences after attorneys said he watched a Muslim co-worker experience retaliation by his supervisor. A supervisor made a negative comment directed at Muslim workers, blaming them for making a bathroom dirty during their prayer time, according to the complaint. When Hamoud told his supervisor Muslims are not allowed to pray in restrooms, he didn't apologize or correct his assumption, the complaint said. Hamoud also recorded multiple instances of discrimination with one janitor, according to the complaint. After reporting his experiences, Hamoud was placed on administrative leave, but the janitor continued working, attorneys said. Then, his managers told him to avoid the janitor when he got back to work, according to the complaint. But when Hamoud passed the janitor in a vehicle driven by another worker, his managers accused him of trying to intimidate the janitor, the complaint said. He was then told in a meeting with managers he would be placed on unpaid leave for five days, attorneys said. When he asked why he was being placed on leave, the managers did not say, according to the complaint. Hamoud was then escorted out of the office building by police, according to the complaint. 'This caused Hamoud great emotional distress, including feeling fearful, embarrassed, degraded, humiliated, disrespected, vilified, and discriminated against,' attorneys said. Despite ongoing emails to Met Council leadership after returning to work and continuing to experience religious discrimination, the agency didn't do anything to address it, according to the complaint. Hamoud resigned in May 2022 and filed a discrimination charge against the agency with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, according to the complaint. The commissioner concluded there was probable cause of retaliation and discrimination against Hamoud twice, in November and January, attorneys said. The complaint asks for monetary compensation for 'lost earnings and benefits, emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, and other compensatory damages.' Anti-Muslim discrimination in Minnesota For the past three years, Minnesota has led the country in reported attacks against mosques, according to a report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. There were 15 recorded incidents targeting mosques in the state in 2024, three times higher than the next highest state for reported attacks, according to the report. Several acts of vandalism, intimidation and discrimination were also reported in the state, the report said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ex-Metro Transit employee claims religious discrimination in lawsuit
A former Metro Transit worker is suing the Metropolitan Council, claiming religious discrimination and workplace retaliation drove him out of his job. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court alleges Jihad Hamoud, who is Muslim, left his job in 2022 after repeated questioning of his religious accommodations, discrimination based on his faith, and disciplinary measures from management after reporting problems. It also claims management sent police with Hamoud to pray after repeatedly declining his requests to do so during a 2021 discipline meeting with management. The Met Council can't comment on ongoing litigation, spokesman John Schadl said in a statement. Metro Transit is just one service run by the regional planning organization. The lawsuit comes after an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights found probable cause that the Met Council violated state antidiscrimination law and retaliated against Hamoud. The council appealed the November 2024 ruling, but Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero reaffirmed her decision in January this year. Minneapolis law firm Storms Dworak brought the lawsuit on Hamoud's behalf. Hamoud had been an employee of the Met Council since 2010, when he was hired as a Metro Transit bus driver, according to court documents. He transferred to a job cleaning and maintaining Metro Transit facilities in 2019. Work was based out of a central hub in St. Paul. While in that position, Hamoud experienced multiple incidents of religious discrimination, the lawsuit claims. In one incident detailed in the lawsuit, a supervisor blamed the bathrooms becoming dirty on Muslims ''who pray in there and wet up the whole place and throw tissue and paper towels all over the place and get the toilets clogged.'' Hamoud told the supervisor Muslims must pray in clean settings, the lawsuit said. In another incident, according to the lawsuit, a Met Council janitor told Hamoud that Muslims were creating problems and leading to a conflict with Christianity. Problems continued, but when Hamoud met with managers to discuss his concerns about religious discrimination, he was placed on administrative leave, according to the lawsuit. When Hamoud returned to work, a manager accused Hamoud of driving past him and the janitor to intimidate him, and later called Hamoud into a meeting with two police officers present, according to the lawsuit. The manager allegedly accused Hamoud of insubordination. As they waited for a union representative, Hamoud asked to pray, which, as a practicing Muslim, he is required to do five times a day. The manager allegedly directed the two police officers to 'keep an eye on' Hamoud while he prayed, causing him to, among other things, feel 'degraded, humiliated, disrespected, vilified, and discriminated against.' Hamoud was placed on a five-day suspension without pay and escorted off the premises. In a later meeting between Hamoud's union and Met Council, the group's assistant director of Facilities Maintenance said the situation was 'blown out of proportion,' and 'border[ed] on ridiculous,' the lawsuit claims. Hamoud returned to work, but continued to experience discrimination and eventually resigned in May 2022. He is seeking a total of $100,000 in damages and any other relief a court deems appropriate. St. Paul police name detective, officer, employee of the year Jerome Johnson: A new era for Riverview mobility St. Paul weighs consolidating some downtown offices at Osborn 370 building State seeks to cancel permit for St. Paul's Northern Iron foundry St. Paul's Maxfield Elementary breaks ground on 'community schoolyard'
