A jury in Alameda County has awarded $61 million to two former FedEx Ground drivers who charged they were harassed by a manager for over two years. The drivers, Edgar Rizkallah and Kamil Issa—both of Lebanese descent—claimed that manager Stacy Shoun at the company’s Oakland terminal subjected them to a barrage of racial slurs, including calling them “camel jockeys” and “terrorists.” The two men said they complained to FedEx Ground, but the problem was ignored.
The jury ordered FedEx Ground to pay Rizkallah and Issa a total of $10 million for compensatory damages—plus a staggering $50 million in punitive damages. Also, manager Shoun was ordered to pay an additional $1 million in damages, under a California law that imposes personal liability on employees who harass coworkers.
FedEx Ground, which is the trucking division of FedEx Corp., has denied the charges and says it plans to appeal the verdict.
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Additional Resources:
Questions and Answers About Employer Responsibilities Concerning the Employment of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians, and Sikhs
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission