EEOC Sues Meatpacker for Alleged Discrimination Against Muslim Employees

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has reportedly filed lawsuits in Colorado and Nebraska federal courts against a meatpacking company that allegedly “created a hostile work environment for its Somali and Muslim employees due to their race, national origin, and religion.” According to the EEOC, the workers’ supervisors and co-workers “threw blood, meat, and bones at the Muslim employees and called them offensive names,” placed offensive graffiti on restroom walls and made other offensive comments. The company also allegedly failed to accommodate the Muslim employees “by refusing to allow them to pray according to their religious tenets.” The complaints further apparently allege retaliation, claiming that the employees were fired when “they requested that their evening break be moved so that they could break their fast and pray at sundown during the month of Ramadan.” See EEOC Press Release, August 31, 2010.