A lawsuit was recently filed by a former Medical College of Wisconsin professor after she was allegedly disciplined for “arriving late to work after attending a religious service on an Islamic holiday and was ultimately terminated as retaliation when she filed a religious discrimination complaint.” The former professor, Zainab Basir, was employed by the medical college for almost “20 years when her contract ended in February.”What kind of discrimination did she face, though? According to her complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin earlier this week, Basir claims she “received discriminatory treatment when she arrived late to work after attending a service for Ramadan Eid, a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims, in 2015.” According to her complaint, when her “supervisors learned she was absent from work that morning to attend the service, they immediately changed some of her professional duties and announced the decision to others in the department.” To Basir, the change of duties felt like being disciplined “for missing work to attend the religious service.”

Eid al-Fitr mass prayer in Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta, Indonesia; image courtesy of
Gunawan Kartapranata via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org

Things didn't end there. Shortly after her absence, she was allegedly “presented a performance improvement plan in response to her absence on July 17, which set specified work hours that were not required of any other faculty members.” She ended up filing a religious discrimination complaint with the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division, “which was cross-filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”As if things couldn't get any worse, Basir's supervisor also allegedly “denied her permission to speak at a professional conference and to attend two other professional conferences.”As a result, Basir reached out to her supervisor, pathology department chair Saul Suster, via email. In her message, Basir opposed the “change in her professional duties” and how she was being treated. As a result, she was “issued a terminal one-year contract, citing a 'lack of general fit within the Department of Pathology,'” according to the complaint.Prior to her absence and the discrimination directed towards her, Basir had always “received high marks on her performance evaluations, including one as recently as January 2015, in which she was applauded for her excellent performance and contribution,” according to the suit. In her suit, Basir is seeking “compensation for lost wages and benefits and reinstatement to her previous position.”The Medical College of Wisconsin pushed back against the allegations and issued the following statement:“The State Equal Rights Division conducted a thorough investigation of all of Dr. Zainab Basir’s claims following her complaints from 2015-2016 to that agency and dismissed Dr. Basir’s complaints with findings of ‘no probable cause.' The matter has proceeded subsequently through administrative agency proceedings until Dr. Basir recently chose to remove her case to federal court, a forum available to all plaintiffs in employment disputes. MCW is confident in the merits of its defenses...MCW maintains a firm commitment to diversity and fosters an inclusive community in which individuals are valued and respected. MCW is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability or sexual orientation.”

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Former professor suing Medical College of Wisconsin for religious discriminationDr. Zainab Basir