|
Howard County Times, Maryland – Oct. 27, 2005
Muslim woman wins settlement in suit
Store agrees to pay $16K for post-Sept. 11 firing
By Mike Santa Rita,
A Muslim woman fired at a Columbia store shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 has won a settlement from the company that terminated her employment.
Shabana Ahmed, a Columbia resident, will receive $16,000 in an agreement reached Sept. 19 with School & Pre-School Supply Center Inc., of Baltimore County, the owner of Learning How, in Columbia, according to the settlement.
In November 2001, Ahmed filed a complaint with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations alleging religious discrimination in the company's decision to fire her the month before.
The $16,000 represents the amount of salary the company would have paid Ahmed prior to the time she found new employment after being fired, said Lee Hoshall, an attorney with the Commission on Human Relations, which represented Ahmed in the matter.
The company also will provide its staff training in cultural and religious awareness, and has agreed to apologize in writing to Ahmed "for the manner in which she was treated by Learning How," according to the settlement agreement.
Ahmed, 27, a former biology teacher at Centennial High School, said in an interview this week that her manager never gave her a good reason for firing her on Oct. 25, 2001, which made her suspicious.
"The day that I was fired I was just met in the parking lot and told by the manager that I was no longer working there," she said….
Ahmed contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group based in Washington, whose officials told her to contact the Commission on Human Relations, she said.
"Since it was right after (the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks) I think they were inundated with a lot of cases like this," she said. "They told us to contact the human relations commission first."
After the commission's initial attempts to reach a settlement with Learning How were unsuccessful, it filed discrimination charges against the company with the State Office of Administrative Hearings in April this year, Hoshall said. The settlement was reached Sept. 19. (MORE)
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=573&NewsID=671166&CategoryID=742&show=localnews&om=1
|
