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July 17, 2007
4 Arab-Americans claim discrimination
in suit against Fedex
Four Arab-American men claim in a lawsuit filed against FedEx Corp. that their supervisors subjected them to religious and ethnic slurs, called them terrorists and gave them less lucrative delivery routes.
"They all came to this country because they wanted a better life for their families, and this is what they got," said Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer representing the men.
FedEx has argued that the plaintiffs, who worked for the company's ground package division in Wilmington, were independent contractors and ineligible for protection under state antidiscrimination laws.
The suit seeks damages similar to a discrimination case filed last year by drivers of Lebanese descent in California. The jury in that case awarded $61 million to two FedEx employees who contended that a manager harassed them with racial slurs. A judge reduced the judgment to $12.5 million.
The lawsuit filed in Middlesex Superior Court claims Loay el-Dagany, originally from Kuwait; Montaser Foad Harara, who is of Palestinian descent; Oukhayi Ibrahim of Morocco; and Yasir Sati from Sudan, experienced a "pervasive hostile work environment and have been treated differently and less favorably than non-Arab, non-Muslim drivers in the terms and conditions of their employment."
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination ruled in March that the employees' complaints were valid, clearing the way for the drivers to pursue their case.
In a complaint filed in July 2006 with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, Loay el-Dagany, from Kuwait, said his supervisor, David Goyette, repeatedly called him a terrorist and threw packages at him.
Goyette also asked Dagany if he was planning to send money to bin Laden or Al Qaeda, Dagany said. After Dagany complained about route changes, Goyette told him not to lose it and "blow up my car," according to the complaint.
In a phone interview to Boston Globe, Dagany, 32, said the treatment made him so sick he developed a rash. "We were treated as less than human beings," said Dagany, who has worked for FedEx since 2003. "I really just want people to know that in a big company like this, where a lot of foreigners work, people shouldn't be treated that way."
"FedEx has abdicated its responsibility of employers to make sure that their drivers are not discriminated against," said Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston lawyer representing the men. "This is a particularly egregious example of an employer abdicating its responsibility. . . . They [the Arab-American employees] all came to this country because they wanted a better life for their families, and this is what they got." (Boston Herald & Boston Globe)
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