Muslim workers fired for praying on job

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Faced with that difficult decision, Abdi H. Nuur removed his employee badge and walked away last month from his forklift driver's job at Dell Computer's Nashville plant. He and 29 other Somali Muslims say they were forced to choose between their faith and their employment.
Now the Metro Human Relations Commission is trying to intervene in a
confrontation that pits American-style production quotas against Islam's requirement that its adherents pray daily when the sun sets.
''They told us that we cannot pray at sunset,'' Nuur said. ''They told us that we would have to wait for our break.'
Nuur apparently never considers conforming to the rules of the job he has taken, but rather expects his employers to accommodate him.

According to leaders of Nashville's Somali community, Dell has been one of several area employers with strong histories of accommodating Muslim workers. But that arrangement apparently came to an abrupt halt in February, with the firing of 30 workers. They were employed by Spherion, a labor agency that provides workers for Dell's Nashville operations, according to David Perez, the compliance officer for the Metro Human Relations Commission.
A Dell spokesman declined to comment about the cases, saying the company had not received a specific complaint.
''Dell values diversity in all areas, and that includes religious beliefs,'' Dell spokesman Mark Drury said. ''The company's practice is to accommodate religious beliefs, so long as the accommodations are reasonable, don't disrupt business operations and are consistent with our policies on operating a respectful workplace....
The Metro Human Relations Commission hopes that it can help mediate a solution. ''It would be great if they could reach a conciliation agreement,'' said compliance officer Perez. He said a Dell manager had phoned him Tuesday to inquire about the situation. Spherion, he said, had yet to respond.
Meantime, he is drawing up a complaint to be filed with Metro government, based on the report from the Somali workers. If a commission panel finds the claims point out a violation of Metro discrimination codes, the companies could be fined.
The workers also could file discrimination complaints with state and federal agencies.
A similar federal complaint turned into a lawsuit that was resolved last year in favor of a local manufacturer.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that Muslim organizations are actively looking for excuses to sue. Sue the factory, sue the government, sue anybody who objects. And local and national authorities don't seem to be getting good advice on how to deal with this.


Allaahu Akbar.