Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Mar 11 2005 (IPS) — U.S. computer maker Dell Inc. is disputing allegations by 30 Muslim workers who say they were fired for demanding break time to perform a 15-minute prayer at sunset.

Muslim groups and some of the contract employees have said that the workers, mostly Somali immigrants from the company’s shipping department, were fired in February from a plant in Tennessee for seeking to perform religiously-mandated prayers in the workplace.

The Human Relations Committee, a local agency, is looking into the case. The committee did not return phone calls from IPS.

A spokesman for Dell, David Frink, described it as "a misunderstanding that was elevated and got escalated".

Dell is the world’s largest personal computer maker with manufacturing facilities in Europe, Latin America and Asia. The company’s revenues for 2004 were 41.4 billion dollars.

Frink said Dell has a practice of accommodating its employees’ religious needs. In the case of Muslim workers, the company in Nashville provided them with areas for prayer in addition to allowing breaks that are required for prayer.

The company has followed a procedure where one or two employees leave the line to pray and return, allowing the next employee time to leave the line to pray.

"Our previous practice in that case wasn’t being followed apparently and a misunderstanding resulted and a number of workers left their jobs," Frink said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading Muslim advocacy organisation based in Washington, said in a statement Thursday that the workers were fired from a Dell facility in Nashville after they sought to perform the Islamic "Maghrib" prayer each day after sunset.

The area is home to some 5,000 Somali Muslims and thousands of other Muslims from other ethnic backgrounds.

An official with the Somali Community Center in Nashville described to IPS a mood of "surprise and frustration" after the incident in February. He said that this is the first time that the company objected to performing religious prayers.

"Those who practice the prayer as they feel they are required to feel frustration now. It’s frustrating for them that they cannot work and do that too," said the official, who wished to remain anonymous. "It’s part of the frustration Muslims from various countries who are working here feel actually."

The official acknowledged that the community had a good working relationship with Dell.

"For many years people have worked there with no trouble," he said. "It is sort of surprising that this would happen. I am sure Dell will work out something."

CAIR says that the sunset prayer may have been particularly problematic.

While the window of opportunity to perform the other four daily Islamic prayers, the sunset prayer is tied to a particular time of day and therefore "requires greater flexibility and creativity on the part of employers and workers."

Practicing Muslims pray each day after the break of dawn, at midday, in the afternoon, at sunset, and in the evening.

In a letter sent on Thursday to Dell President and CEO Kevin B. Rollins, CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar asked that the Muslim workers be rehired pending resolution of the issues involved.

CAIR said in its statement it has offered to help the company and its employees reach a mutually agreeable solution to the dispute but nothing was on the table yet.

Some workers have reportedly said that they were forced to choose between practicing their faith and working at the company’s facility, something Dell denies.

"It is inaccurate to say that someone said you have to make a choice between praying and working. It’s also inaccurate to say the workers have been fired," said Frink.

Dell said it was willing to rehire the employees who worked mostly in the shipping department as long as work doesn’t get disrupted.

The company says that "a handful" of workers actually returned to work at Dell.

"We are very confident that we’ll be able to appropriately resolve this issue beneficially for everyone involved," Frink said.

The workers were technically employed by Spherion Corp, a labour agency that provides workers for Dell’s Nashville operations, but Dell says it is taking responsibility because the incident took place at its facility.

Ever since the Sep. 11, 2001 attack on U.S. landmarks by al-Qaeda, Muslims in the United States have complained about various forms of discrimination. Many of them also spoke of support and solidarity from the U.S. public.

Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced the settlement of an employment discrimination lawsuit against Pesce, Ltd., on behalf of an Egyptian employee.

Karim El-Raheb had said that he was fired as general manager of a seafood restaurant, located in Houston and operated by Pesce, Ltd., due to his national origin.

Filed in 2003, the EEOC lawsuit stated that shortly after Sep. 11, 2001, Pesce’s then co-owner began making offensive references regarding El-Raheb’s national origin. The co-owner openly speculated that El-Raheb’s Egyptian name and physical appearance were responsible for a decline in earnings.

The settlement terms require Pesce, Ltd. to pay 150,000 dollars in relief to El-Raheb for the discrimination he has endured

"Even though more than three years have passed since that tragic day, the EEOC remains committed to seeking justice for victims of post-9/11 backlash discrimination in the workplace, " said Mary Rose Oakar, former congresswoman and president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

"This is a fair and just end to the racist dismissal of Karim El-Raheb from his job. We hope that this case will serve as an example that discrimination will not be tolerated in any environment, and that those who engage in such unlawful action will be held accountable," she said.