A jury in Phoenix has awarded $287,640—including $250,000 in punitive damages—in a religious discrimination suit against Alamo Car Rental brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC charged Alamo with post-9/11 backlash discrimination on the basis of religion when it fired a Somali customer sales representative in December 2001 for refusing to remove her head scarf during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
According to the lawsuit, Alamo refused to permit employee Bilan Nur to continue to cover her head, as she had done in past years during Ramadan, even if she wore an approved Alamo-logo scarf. What’s more, there was evidence that wearing a head scarf didn’t violate the company’s dress policy. The company unsuccessfully argued that it was under no obligation to accommodate Nur because allowing her to wear the head scarf would have created an undue hardship on the company.
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Additional Resources:
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Religious Discrimination information