A California Muslim man is suing his employer, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for workplace harassment because of his race and religion.
Elsiddig Elhindi is a legal California resident who fled the violence of Sudan when he was 19. He began working for CDRC in 2002. Just into his third shift at California State Prison in Sacramento, he claims his co-workers and supervisors began to bully him about his accent and skin color. When coworkers learned that Elhindi was a practicing Muslim and performed daily prayers, the reported harassment worsened. When Elhindi reported the harassment to his supervisors, they told him his coworkers were just blowing off steam and he should retire if he had a problem.
"I have no other choice but to, to, you know, go this route and try to you know find some relief and some resolution because otherwise it's just going to other Muslims and uh, other people with accents," Elhindi said. "You know, my accent was joked about and my color was joked about and the n word is normally used there."
Elhindi said things got worse when the inmates joined his co-workers in racial and religious slurs and he began to fear for his physical safety. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is helping with Elhindi with the lawsuit. They said they are often contacted by California Muslims who work in law enforcement and corrections who face daily harassment, but fear to come forward.
CDRC has 60 days to respond to the lawsuit. Elhindi transferred to the Solano prison in September 2014 where he says his coworkers are hard-working and respectful.
