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USA American Convert Sues Employer

kds1980

SPNer
Apr 3, 2005
4,502
2,743
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INDIA
9345d6_sihk_09292010.jpg


Frank Mahoney Burroughs.





Federal officials claim AutoZone illegally fired an Everett worker who converted to Sikhism - and did little to stop supervisors and customers from calling the man “bin Laden” and “terrorist” once he began wearing a turban.
The U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission yesterday sued Memphis-based AutoZone on behalf of Frank Mahoney Burroughs, a salesman allegedly fired after some three years working at the chain’s Everett store.
“AutoZone discriminated against Burroughs by failing to reasonably accommodate his religious practices, by subjecting him to a religion-based hostile work environment and by terminating him because of his religion,” the EEOC wrote in its lawsuit.

AutoZone did not return calls seeking comment.
Authorities claim Burroughs’ troubles began when he converted in 2009 to Sikhism, a religion that requires males to grow beards and wear turbans.
Sikh men say this look has made them targets since Sept. 11, 2001, even though their religion isn’t related to Islam.
The EEOC claimed in court papers that Burroughs’ bosses refused to let him work the first time he appeared in Sikh garb.
The company later let him return, but supervisors allegedly called Burroughs “Sikhi,” “Punjabi King” and “terrorist” because of his appearance. Bosses also rarely intervened when customers made “terrorist jokes” or called the man “bin Laden,” the EEOC said.
Ultimately, AutoZone allegedly ordered Burroughs to comply with company dress codes or provide documentation justifying a religious exemption - then fired the man when he gave up and stopped coming to work. “I was discarded like a piece of trash,” the 23-year-old said in a statement issued by the Sikh Coalition, a New York-based group that’s taken up his cause.
The EEOC is seeking unspecified back pay, pain-and-suffering compensation and punitive damages for Burroughs.
It also wants an injunction banning AutoZone from “discriminating on the basis of religion (or) refusing to accommodate the religious beliefs of employees when (doing so) does not pose an undue hardship.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1285052
 

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
19,219
I am really glad to see that EEOC is on the job. The next step according to the laws in the US, after an EEOC ruling, is to go to Federal court. EEOC acts as a fact finding body, which makes recommendations after conducting hearings and reviewing documentation. Their brief is then entered as evidence in the federal court that hears the case. It carries a lot of weight when EEOC, rather than the plaintiff, sues on half of the plaintiff -- in this case Burroughs.
 

Tejwant Singh

Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jun 30, 2004
5,028
7,188
Henderson, NV.
Sikhs like Burroughs are opening the doors for our future generation and it should also give some pause to the parents who can not teach their own children how to fight against hate crimes, hence cut their hair and thier own.

Kudos to Sardar Burroughs.
 

karam

SPNer
Aug 11, 2010
32
54
long time ago a white girl I know married Indian muslim, I know how badly she was treated by fellow employees, finally she quit her job, problem is people expect us people of Indian origin to be different but if one of them follows whatever we follow then most native people are pretty hostile towards new convert
 

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