E-Alert Item: Workplace Discrimination: Macy’s Hit with Lawsuit by Muslim Sales Clerk

Just a few months after Macy’s department store paid out $125,000 to settle a bias lawsuit by a Muslim sales clerk who was terminated from the Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Store in San Jose, the retailer has been hit with a second lawsuit by another Muslim worker at that store. Hiam Yassine, who is Palestinian, was terminated in January 2002 after violating store policy by giving a customer a discount without manager approval. But she claims that breaches of this policy were frequent among sales clerks, and that she was singled out because she is Muslim. She also claims that she had been subject to discrimination and harassment for over two years.