Muslim workers who were fired on Namaz issue to be paid $1.5M

Denver: Cargill Meat Solutions has agreed to pay $1.5 million to 138 Somali-American Muslim workers who were fired from their jobs at a Colorado plant on namaz issue. Cargill Meat Solutions is a division of Minnesota-based agribusiness company. It has also agreed to train managers and hourly workers in accommodating Muslim employees’ prayer breaks at its Fort Morgan beef processing plant. The company denied wrongdoing but agreed to settle to avoid further litigation.

It must be noted that Cargill Meat Solutions had fired 138 workers in late 2016 for offering Namaz during service hours. In 2017, a federal anti-discrimination agency found that the workers had been harassed and discriminated against for protesting the unannounced policy change that denied them opportunities for obligatory prayer.

Hundreds of Somali-Americans work at the plant in Fort Morgan, northeast of Denver. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, and Qusair Mohamed Bhai, a Denver attorney who represented the workers praised the settlement.