A Muslim woman who worked at a McDonald's in Maryland says her executives and colleagues sexually harassed her. The employee also suffered religious discrimination following her conversion to Islam.
Diamond Powell, a young American from Baltimore, has just filed a lawsuit against her former employer, Susdewitt Management LLC of Lanham, with the support of lawyers from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group.
The young woman worked for the company that owned two McDonald's restaurants at Thurgood Marshall International Airport in Baltimore / Washington. When Diamond Powell converted to Islam in February 2017, she started wearing a hijab in her workplace. His manager then asked him to "take off that hoodie " of his head.
The young woman must also pray five times a day at prescribed times. A general manager initially granted Diamond Powell short prayer breaks during his work time, according to his lawsuit. One of the employees didn't hesitate to tell him: "You don't have to wait for God to wake up to pray. "
In addition, if her prayer time was very short, the general manager ended up forbidding her to pray in a quiet area of the airport. So she had to pray in a storage room. As the young woman continued to pray outside the restaurant, the general manager finally revoked her request for a prayer break by telling her: "God will understand". "In doing so, the CEO forced Powell to choose between continuing to work at McDonald's or sacrificing his sincere religious beliefs.", indicates the trial.
The young woman resigned her post in April 2018. Her lawsuit accuses Susdewitt Management of violating the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The owner of Susdewitt Management, Isaac Green, challenged the "characterizations " of the lawsuit, but said his company was looking into the allegations of their former employee and "would respond accordingly. "" We pride ourselves on our diverse workforce and have policies in place to provide a welcoming workplace and respect any accommodations employees may require for religious reasons", he said in a statement provided by a spokesperson for the McDonald's company.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that Diamond Powell was sexually harassed at work. Several managers and colleagues frequently asked her if she was a virgin, and a team leader was sure to make sexually explicit remarks to her. "No Muslim woman should ever, ever go through what I've been through, and I hope this trial will help other Muslim women", said the young woman during an online press conference with her lawyers.
Zainab Chaudry, director of CAIR's office in Maryland, explained that the group found an increase in the number of similar incidents. Many Muslims have experienced hostile work environments because of their faith.
Nor is it the first time McDonald's has found itself accused of harassment.. A French employee recently testified to the sexist remarks and violence a colleague subjected her to for over a year.