Halliburton accused of harassing Muslim employees

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Two Muslim employees, Hassan Snoubar and Mir Ali, from Texas, were regularly harassed about their religion as well as their national origin, by supervisors and co-workers at Halliburton Energy Services Inc. where they worked as operator assistants, according to a media report.

Snoubar happens to be from Syria and Ali is from India.

In the lawsuit, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges that Snoubar was called a “camel jockey,” while a supervisor asked Ali about his “magic carpet.”

The lawsuit also includes that regular broadcasts over the company’s radio headsets were said to have called them terrorists and other derogatory names.

The two were also discriminated against in the assignment of jobs and workloads.

When Snoubar went to complain about the discrimination to human resources personnel, they suggested that he should transfer to another location but instead was “abruptly terminated.”

The EEOC has been cracking down on employer practices or other workplace behaviors that target workers who are Muslim or Sikh, or of Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent, after 9/11.

“This case should serve as a message that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated in the workplace. No one should have to arrive at the workplace and be taunted or persecuted for his religious beliefs or national origin,” EEOC Trial Attorney Joel Clark said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

Halliburton has declined to comment.