After 9/11, employees at a Honda dealership in Conroe, Texas, started calling a Muslim car salesman from India "Taliban" and "Arab". Managers made fun of what he ate and mocked his prayer rituals. When he asked why he had to attend a United Way meeting, his supervisor wrote him up for acting like a "Muslim extremist". When he objected to people banging on the partition between his office and the showroom floor, the dealership fired him.
The district court granted summary judgment for the dealership, holding that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission presented no evidence of a "hostile work environment". The Fifth Circuit reversed. EEOC v. WC&M Enterprises, Inc., No. 05-21090 (5th Cir. Aug. 10, 2007).
Politically correct? Perhaps. Legally correct. For sure.
Barry Barnett
