Two men who used to work at a Morton-based trucking company were awarded $240,000 by a federal jury after a judge here found the company violated their religious beliefs.
According to a 2013 lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, the men, Mahad Abass Mohamed (formerly known as Mahad Aden) and Abdikarim Hassan Bulshale (formerly known as Abdikarim Ismail), had refused to deliver alcohol for Star Transport Inc., saying it was against their religious values as practicing Muslims.
As such, the men were fired. The suit claimed that Star Transport failed to provide the two men “with a reasonable accommodation and by terminating them because of their religion.”
The company had admitted liability in the case earlier this year and Chief U.S. District Judge James Shadid entered an order to that effect in March.
The trial, which began Monday and ended Tuesday, was to figure out how much money, if any, the men were entitled to for damages.
“This is an awesome outcome. Star Transport failed to provide any discrimination training to its human resources personnel, which led to catastrophic results for these employees,” said one of the EEOC’s attorneys, June Calhoun, in a statement. “They suffered real injustice that needed to be addressed. By this verdict, the jury remedied the injustice by sending clear messages to Star Transport and other employers that they will be held accountable for their unlawful employment practices.
“Moreover, they signaled to Mr. Mohamed and Mr. Bulshale that religious freedom is a right for all Americans.”
The EEOC, which filed the suit on behalf of the men, had tried to work out the issue with Star Transport a year prior to filing the suit, to no avail, according to court records.
In 2009, the personnel manager and the human resources manager at the over-the-road trucking company didn’t have any formalized training from Star on how to deal with matters of civil and religious rights. One of the administrators hadn’t heard of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bars such discrimination, according to the court file.
Whether the men collect their money is another story. Star Transport went out of business earlier this year and it’s unknown who is now responsible for the judgment.