AT&T must pay Muslim woman $5M in workplace harassment case

For more than 10 years, Susann Bashir worked as a fiber optics network builder for AT&T in Missouri. The Kansas City Star reports that she was subjected to daily religious discrimination and harassment during the last three years of her employment there—co-workers called her a "towelhead," and asked if she planned to blow up the building.

She was already pursuing a religious discrimination case against her employer when, one day, her boss grabbed her head-scarf and exposed her hair during a routine meeting in his office. The head and hair are considered a "private part" for Muslim women, so snatching her hijab was perceived as a powerful personal violation.

Snip from The Kansas City Star:

Bashir sued, and this week a Jackson County jury awarded her $5 million in punitive damages against Southwestern Bell/AT&T. (…) Thursday's overall award appears to be the largest jury verdict for a workplace religious discrimination case in Missouri history.

More on the case in this Associated Press item.

(Thanks, Oxblood Ruffin; thumbnail of photo via KC Star by Todd Feeback)