Muslim Employment Discrimination: A Legal Examination

[Phx_Dem]

Sometimes in the poisonous air of the political season, we have to pause for some perspective. This hit me recently as I continued my research into the history of Islam in the U.S. courts, when I noticed the remarkable number of federal judicial opinions over the last ten years involving aliens who fear being deported United States because of what will happen to them at the hands of Muslims in their home countries. The situation is not reversed. With the exception of individual Americans who have been indicted by grand juries here, there are no overseas American refugee populations. That fact alone should give comfort to those who get tired of hearing the U.S. criticized by the Muslim world. We have plenty of their nationals here, and they have no interest in going home.

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Since the 1960s, employees within the U.S. enjoy protection from workplace discrimination by rigorous federal anti-discrimination laws. We have a federal agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which receives and investigates complaints of discrimination by anyone within the U.S. If they EEOC finds discrimination, it can sue the offending employer on behalf of the affected employees. If not, it gives employees the right to sue themselves. Employment discrimination cases are typically heard in federal court, where the judges are good and the dockets efficient. Meanwhile, several cities and states have bolstered this regime with remedies that go beyond the federal nationwide minimum.

How have these systems worked for Muslim employees, many of whom come from countries where discrimination, if not institutionalized, is at least a fact of life? That is a question I set out to answer, through a systematic review of those cases in which Muslim employees here claim that they have been discriminated against in their jobs. I wanted to see how Muslim employment cases have evolved with the growth of Islamic terrorism in the United States, and as the volume of judicial opinion involving Muslim-related asylum claims has increased.

Because what I discovered is bound to generate controversy, I want to make it as easy as possible for other legal researchers to replicate my results. Accordingly, I have posted several lists so I can explain my findings, and I encourage anyone who thinks my facts are mistaken to let me know where I have it wrong.

http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.169/pub_detail.asp