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US school in trouble for denying Haj leave to
teacher
Wednesday December 15, 2010 08:40:32 AM,
ummid.com News Desk
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Malegaon: The US federal government
sued a suburban Chicago school district on Monday for continually
refusing permission to a Muslim middle schoolteacher to take
unpaid leave so she could perform Haj, reports Arab News
correspondent from Washington DC.
The federal government says the school violated the teacher’s
civil rights and has brought the case on behalf of Safoorah Khan,
claiming that it is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
According to the Arab News, the government asked the court to order the school district to
adopt policies that reasonably accommodate its employees’
religious practices and beliefs, and to reinstate Khan with back
pay and also pay her compensatory damages. It is also seeking
additional damages for pain and suffering. Khan started as a
middle schoolteacher for Berkeley School District 87 — about 15
miles west of Chicago — in 2007. In 2008, she asked for almost
three weeks of unpaid leave to perform Haj.
After the district twice denied her request, Khan wrote to the
board, saying that “based on her religious beliefs, she could not
justify delaying performing Haj,” and resigned shortly thereafter.
She then filed a complaint with the United States Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, according to the lawsuit filed at a
federal court in Chicago. The commission found reasonable cause
that discrimination had occurred and forwarded the matter to the
Justice Department.
The Board of Education said it denied Khan’s request because the
purpose of the leave was not related to her professional duties as
an employee and was specifically set forth in the professional
negotiations agreement between the Board of Education and the
teachers’ union, the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit filed by the United States of America claims the Board
of Education and the Berkeley School District failed to provide
Khan with reasonable accommodations and made her choose between
her job and her religious observance.
Nihad Awad, national executive director at the Council of American
Islamic Relations, praised the decision and told Arab News: “We
appreciate the government’s intervention in the support of
reasonable and legally-required workplace accommodations that many
take for granted. No worker should be forced to choose between his
or her faith and continued employment.”
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