CAIR Florida, Morgan & Morgan, File Harassment Charges Against UPS

Orlando UPS Employee Alleges Anti-Arab Bias

Anika Myers Palm | Orlando Sentinel | July 10, 2012 | [Original Article]

  

Today's Orlando Press Conference

 An Orlando employee of UPS filed a federal complaint today alleging that the company allowed a hostile environment to exist because of his ethnicity and faith.

Ashraf Sarandah, 33, said he has been denied promotions, called names and that co-workers and supervisors spied on him in the restroom at the parcel-delivery-service company. He has filed discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Sarandah, a Palestinian-American who is also a Muslim, said the harassment has been a steady problem during at least six of the eight years he has been employed by UPS as an industrial engineer and planner.

 "This conduct is un-American," said Hassan Shibly, executive director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations... [Watch Video]

Muslim Worker Claims Management at UPS Watched Him Urinate

Claire Gordon | AOL News | July 10,2012 | [Full Article]

...Sarandah says that in February he went to use the bathroom, and was followed by two managers. Deeply uncomfortable, Sarandah says that he turned around and left, even though he has a kidney and bladder condition for which he was previously hospitalized. "Employees should not have to fear that their employers are kneeling under them and watching them urinate," says Shibly. "It's frankly disgusting on UPS' part."... 

Ashraf's lawyers say that they aren't surprised that a Muslim should be the latest target of abuse at UPS. Harassment and discrimination of Muslims took a turn for the worse a few years ago, says Shibly. A month after the Sept. 11 attacks, 47 percent of Americans had a favorable view of Islam, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. When that same question was asked in 2010, only 37 percent said the same.

"What I really find fascinating about this case is that UPS is supposed to be a worldwide company," Shibly added. "They serve the world. They should be all about diversity. It's a global corporation." [Read Full Details]