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A Jackson County jury has returned one of the largest verdicts ever — more than $5 million — in a case alleging workplace discrimination against a Muslim woman.
The jury last week awarded $5.1 million to former Kansas City resident Susann Bashir, including $120,000 in actual damages and $5 million in punitive damages, in her suit against Southwestern Bell, a unit of AT&T in Kansas City.
Bashir filed a hostile work environment claim and a retaliation claim. The jury ruled in Bashir’s favor on the hostile work environment claim but found for Southwestern Bell on the retaliation claim.
“I think it helped Susann Bashir know she really is a strong, courageous person,” said Bashir’s attorney, Amy Coopman, of Foland, Wickens, Eisfelder, Roper & Hofer in Kansas City. “It’s really hard sometimes to raise your hand and stand up for yourself. This was a long, difficult journey for her to realize that it was worth it, and maybe it helps other employees along the way.”
Bashir worked at Southwestern Bell in Kansas City from July 1999 until her termination on June 16, 2010.
She alleged the harassment began after she converted to Islam in 2005. Her court pleadings and testimony during the nearly two-week trial described a pattern of hostility by her two direct supervisors and some co-workers:
Her supervisor referred to her hijab, or Muslim head scarf, as “that thing on [her] head” and told her repeatedly to take off that “hat thing” so she could hear; the supervisor said anyone dressed like her and wearing that “hat thing” would not be allowed to access management position openings on AT&T’s computer system; he also said he could not see someone dressed like Bashir as an equal; he threatened to move her cubicle to put her “where they can keep an eye [on her] since [she is] one of those bomb people;” and he tried to grab her hijab and pull it off her head.
“When they said those things, they may have thought they were being funny,” Coopman said. “But when it goes on and on over time, it’s no longer a joke, and the environment kept getting worse and worse for [Bashir].”
Southwestern Bell continues to deny Bashir’s allegations. In court filings, Southwestern Bell said there was no evidence of acts based on religion and there was “at best proof of a few isolated acts over the course of more than four years, and no proof of any specific actions or conduct either severe or pervasive” enough to justify the religious harassment claim.
“AT&T is a nationally recognized leader in workforce diversity and inclusion, something in which we take great pride,” said Marty Richter, a spokesman for AT&T. “We disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal.”
AT&T declined to comment further. Brian Woolley and Shelley Ericsson, of Lathrop & Gage in Kansas City, represented AT&T and did not respond to messages seeking comment by press time.
The verdict is one of the largest in the nation involving workplace discrimination and harassment against Muslims, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The largest previous such Missouri verdict involving workplace discrimination against a Muslim was $811,949, including attorneys’ fees, awarded in 2008 to Mohamed Alhalabi in a suit against the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Missouri has seen larger verdicts involving other types of workplace behavior. Last year, also in Jackson County, a woman won a $10.6 million verdict against UBS Financial Services on her sexual harassment claims.
While the verdict may offer vindication to Bashir, the $5.1 million award will not stand in full, even if it’s upheld on appeal. Missouri law caps most punitive awards, and attorneys’ fees also may be awarded. The trial judge must approve fees after lawyers submit them to the court later this month, and then the final calculation will be made.
Another key allegation the plaintiff made against Southwestern Bell was that the company allowed Bashir to take slightly longer lunch breaks on Fridays — until the supervisor discovered that Bashir was using the time to attend services at a mosque.
“It was kind of a weird deal,” Coopman said. “Usually she could go to mosque on Friday over her lunch hour, but sometimes it ran a little long, maybe 15 minutes. She was allowed to make up the time at the end of the day. For as long as they did not know what she did over her lunch hour, they allowed it.
“But once [the supervisor] found out why she was leaving, he said, ‘You can’t do that.’”
Coopman said Bashir repeatedly communicated her concerns and problems with supervisors, the corporate human resources department and union representatives. She first called AT&T’s hot line for discrimination complaints soon after converting to Islam in 2005. Bashir’s complaints culminated with filing a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2008.
Bashir said one of the starkest incidents of hostility occurred after her supervisor learned of the EEOC complaint. The supervisor grabbed her hijab and tried to pull it from her head.
“That hands-on moment … it was very traumatic for her,” said Coopman, who noted that Bashir sought counseling immediately afterward and eventually hospital treatment. Bashir did not return to work and was on disability through 2010, when Southwestern Bell terminated her.
Bashir wasn’t available for comment. She has moved her family to Anchorage, Alaska, and was traveling back home this week after the trial and could not be reached, her lawyer said.
