A Muslim former worker at Central Maine Internal Medicine lab in Lewiston is suing its parent company, claiming it denied him reasonable accommodation for his religion then fired him and, later, refused to rehire him, all because of his religion, race, and national origin.
Press Herald (h/t Frank T) Motaz El Kelani, who now lives in Texas, filed a civil complaint on Monday in U.S. District Court. His lawsuit alleges he was fired for opposing the company’s discrimination against him and retaliating against him for being a whistleblower, which is a protected activity under federal law.
In El Kelani’s complaint, filed by his attorney, John Gause, he wrote that he is an Arab and Egyptian Muslim man who has dark skin, black hair, and a black beard. He was hired to work as a practice manager at Central Maine Internal Medicine on Main Street in Lewiston on July 1, 2019.
There, his supervisor accused him of being intimidating toward two members of his staff. She made comments that it could be because El Kelani was Arab, and his dark features and color, the lawsuit says.
“She said she thought training would be helpful, but (El Kelani) pointed out that the accusations were unjustified and he refused to accept training when the perception of him being intimidating was because he was a Muslim and Arab,” according to the complaint.
In April 2020, El Kelani asked his supervisor for a religious accommodation so he could work remotely for the month of Ramadan and, if that were not allowed, that he be permitted to use his accrued paid time off that month.
His supervisor told him that he was being placed on involuntary and unpaid furlough. The next month, he was told that his position was being eliminated, according to the complaint.
Less than a month later, he applied for an open position as practice manager with Central Maine Pulmonology, a subsidiary of Central Maine Healthcare Corp., according to the complaint. He wasn’t hired for that job. In his complaint, El Kelani claims his employer “acted intentionally and with malice or with reckless disregard for Plaintiff’s rights under state and federal law.”
As a result of CMHC’s “unlawful discrimination in employment, (El Kelani) has suffered lost wages, lost benefits, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of self-esteem, injury to reputation, injury to career, emotional distress, and other pecuniary and non-pecuniary losses,” according to the complaint.
In February 2021, El Kelani filed complaints with the Maine Human Rights Commission and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging employment discrimination. He is seeking to be rehired or compensated financially and with benefits along with lost wages with interest as well as benefits that accrued since his termination. He also is seeking legal expenses.
Muslims are not very popular with the local Lewiston population. Here are a few reasons why:
Maine First Media In May 2108, a local Lewiston mother recorded as a mob of Muslim teens and children, boys and girls as young as nine years old, brandishing wooden bats and other objects, along with fists, feet and sheer numbers to attack the two non-Somali defenders. At one point you can even hear one of the hoodlums repeatedly daring the woman to, “Stop me, bitch.”
This is far from the first incident of Somali Muslim attacks at Kennedy Park in Lewiston. Recently, a 10-year-old girl was jumped and beaten by a Somali girl at the park. As such occurrences become more common in Lewiston, many lifelong residents are now afraid to bring their own children to play. Some residents say police officers tell them the safest thing would be not to bring their kids to the park anymore.
Maine First Media Too many Muslim parents in Lewiston are letting their children run wild in packs with no supervision. Residents say the Somali Muslim kids have figured out tricks to avoid being caught. For example, they’ll go out wearing multiple shirts, after they commit a crime, they’ll remove one of the shirts to reveal a different colored top, throwing off any witness description.
Maine First Media But no amount of policing or parenting will fix a cultural problem. Lewiston has been flooded with Muslim foreigners who speak different languages and come from different cultures. The fact is, many refugees now find — the once universally accepted — notion of assimilation offensive.
So, they continue to practice the culture of the country they fled. The influx of illegal and legal Muslim immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees places an undue burden on municipalities who simply don’t have the infrastructure to support the massive population explosion of so-called, “new Mainers.”
Richard S says
A muslim said he’d work for me on a condition I sign a contract with him. I told him my handshake is as good as a contract. He wouldn’t budge and I said dasvidania (goodbye in Russian)
BareNakedIslam says
Why would you even consider a Muslim?
PinkCadlac ~ All American / American says
I hope you realize that you got lucky, and dodged a bullet.
Richard S says
I was looking for a way out to not consider him.
ME Infidel says
“Never Hire a Muslim Reason #221” is barely a scratch in the total number if all incidents were reported. I’m sure Jihad Watch and Refugee Resettlement Watch have many more.
The groups that welcome these “New Mainers” are going to whine and scream that we are racists (?) and Islamophobes while they’re rarely impacted by their benefits of multicultural narrative. If any tourists who rave about the beautiful geography of Maine are willing, I suggest they take a ride to downtown Lewiston especially the area in the vicinity of the St. Peter and St. Paul Basilica for an eye opening view of what’s really going on. They would change their tune.
PinkCadlac ~ All American / American says
You’re right. Over the years, Bonni has posted many stats showing the numbers, as well as the corruption of the ‘resettlement’ organizations. It’s all about the money… taxpayers and babies be damned.
And we know the tourists won’t go to these places. They spend their R&R time and money in places that are attractive and safe.
Shawn says
All one as a citizen can do is keep notes on the traitors who brought all that scum into our once descent countries and hopefully live long enough to be part of the solution.
Ramez Fekry says
F*cking Moslems of Egyptian lineage are aggressively problematic everywhere in the West, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia!
BareNakedIslam says
I rarely come across Egyptians making trouble in the West. They seem to become assimilated much better than most Muslims.
Ramez Fekry says
They founded the Moslem Brotherhood and the leader of Al-Qaeda is Egyptian and so was the previous leader of Al-Qaeda.
BareNakedIslam says
True. But it was Egypt that kicked out the Muslim Brotherhood and now their headquarters is in Qatar. I think it was Nasser who first kicked them out of Egypt and then after they came back, I think El-Sisi did again?
All I’m saying is that after nearly 15 years of doing this blog, I have found very few negative stories about Egyptian Muslims in North America and Europe.
And wasn’t Yasser Arafat an Egyptian by birth? I’m not trying to defend all Egyptians, just looking at their overall behavior when living in the West.
And let’s not forget, Egypt was the first country to have a peace agreement with Israel.
gmcmi says
I was surprised Egyption. I felt like they did abit better at behaving.