08/31/12 – General - A representative from a local Muslim community non-profit organization contacted CAIR-WA to ask for a referral to a pro-bono attorney to help with a legal matter involving an upcoming legal audit. When CAIR-WA contacted the man to provide such a referral, he informed us that he has already hired an attorney and will let us know if they need assistance in the future.
08/31/12 – Employment/Other - A Muslim woman reported to CAIR-WA that she was contacted by a former employer who had received an email from the district manager of their company about her. The email stated that a customer had contacted the company to report an employee with the woman's description having tried to sell their products to him/her outside of the store for half price. The woman vehemently denies doing this and is worried that someone is targeting her reputation to make her look bad. She has asked CAIR-WA to help her ensure that no retaliation takes place and that this person and/or incident do not jeopardize her current job. We are now in the process of requesting more information from the company regarding the complaint made against this woman.
08/3112 – Government Agency/ICE - An Albanian-born man was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in October of 2011 and has only recently been released from detention. He has a case pending in the Court of Appeals and after dealing with the proceedings on his own up until now, called CAIR-WA for an attorney referral. We were able to refer the man to an immigration organization we have worked with in the past.
08/24/12 – Employment/Hire or Fire - A Muslim man working for a local security company was given a break during one of his shifts. He went to a secluded area and removed his shoes and over-shirt to pray. His supervisor approached him, said his conduct was unprofessional, and put him on suspension. Three days later the man was terminated. After contacting the corporate office, he was re-hired and told he was getting a "second chance." A white, non-Muslim co-worker who had been working the same shift was not reprimanded when he broke specific professional conduct rules at around the same time. The Muslim man has now been terminated again for breaking conduct after not receiving proper training at a different post, which he believes he was purposefully set up to do. He contacted CAIR-WA about his situation and we are in the process of sending a letter of complaint to the company on his behalf. In addition, given the seriousness of the case, CAIR-WA referred the man to several possible attorneys.
08/22/12 – Government Agency/Other - A Muslim man and his wife lost their child care business when the wife's ex-husband said that she and her current husband had burned their child. When Child Protective Services (CPS) conducted an investigation they did not find anything wrong with the couple's conduct. The man and wife contacted CAIR-WA to express their desire to file charges against CPS for ruining their business and almost causing them to lose their house. We provided them with a referral to an attorney with whom we have worked in the past.
08/22/12 – Public Accomodation - A Muslim woman contacted CAIR-WA for advice on how to terminate her relationship with an attorney. She has been working with the attorney since January of this year on an auto accident case she was involved in, but the attorney has been non-communicative and difficult to work with from the beginning. In addition to terminating the relationship, the woman wanted to request back her documents. CAIR-WA was able to advise the woman on how to proceed and provided her with the appropriate language to use in her request with the attorney.
08/21/12 – Criminal offense/Against Property - At 2:00AM, a Muslim man inside a Vancouver, WA mosque heard a loud noise and discovered that someone had broken a glass window of the mosque. He found the man who was responsible and asked why he had done it. The man replied "My dad is a marine, we hate Iraqis. We don't want you here, we hate Muslims." The man called the police and was able to hold him until they arrived. The perpetrator was arrested on charges of vandalism, but the report said nothing about hate speech. The Muslim man wants more serious charges brought against him. CAIR-WA has requested the police report and will be working to ensure that all possible forms of redress are pursued.
08/21/12 – Child custody - Muslim woman called on behalf of her incarcerated son who has a child custody case. Since CAIR-WA does not have attorneys on staff, we have referred her to an attorney with whom we have worked in the past.
08/18/12 – Employment/Hire or Fire - CAIR-WA received an email from a Muslim woman complaining about being unable to get a job because of her hijab. We are in the process of trying to contact the woman to gain more details on her situation and determine what we can do to help.
08/18/12 – Criminal Offense/Against Property - A Muslim man and his two daughters, both of whom wear hijab, were driving in their car on a street in West Seattle when another vehicle pulled up next to them. The driver of the other car leaned out his window, flipped off the eldest daughter, spit on the car and started yelling offensive remarks. The driver followed the family in their car for a while and continued yelling and spitting. The man was able to get a license plate number for the vehicle and brought his report to CAIR-WA. We have reported the incident to the King County Sheriff's Office and are awaiting the results of their investigation.
08/17/12 – Employment/Hire or Fire - A Muslim woman's schedule at work was changed without notice. When she showed up as originally scheduled, she was told that she had missed an entire day of work the previous day and was sent home. She was called in the next morning and fired because she "did not respect the schedule" her supervisor had made. This same employee has also experienced ongoing general harassment for being a Muslim at her workplace from both co-workers and supervisors since beginning to work there. She contacted CAIR-WA about this case, and we are in the process of working with her to find a means of suitable redress.
08/16/12 – Government Agency/FBI - A man who is an American citizen living and working in Qatar submitted a complaint to CAIR-WA through our website. The complaint gave details about a case he wishes to bring against the US Embassy in Qatar, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI. He wishes to charge these institutions for having him arrested on false allegations, attempting to have him barred from all the Gulf Cooperation Countries, for preventing him from returning to the United States, and for racial and religious discrimination. CAIR-WA referred the man to CAIR's National office, whose attorneys are most acquainted with processing "no fly" cases.
08/16/12 – Hate mail/Hate phone calls - CAIR-WA received an envelope in the mail that had a school district's letterhead printed on it. Inside the envelope was a white, folded piece of paper. The page was blank except for the word "Stopped." written in a small font on the top, and a smiley face drawn with what appears to be grease in the middle. CAIR-WA contacted the school district and determined that it was impossible to know whether the envelope had been sent by a school employee or not. There were no reports of similar envelopes being received by other offices and/or organizations.
08/16/12 – Public Accomodation - A woman contacted CAIR-WA via our website to report that since marrying a man with an Arab/Muslim name and beginning to wear hijab, her apartment manager has begun performing excessive, unexplained apartment inspections. After several attempts, CAIR-WA finally got ahold of the woman who explained that there was no need to go forward with her complaint since the harassment had resulted in her family deciding to move.
08/14/12 – Employment/Hire or Fire - A Muslim man contacted CAIR-WA to report that when he originally applied for a job with a local security company, the hiring manager had told him that he could not wear a beard. He did not request religious accommodations in this meeting. CAIR-WA contacted and spoke with the hiring manager on his behalf, who assured us that if the man wears his beard for religious purposes then it is allowed. CAIR-WA informed the man of his rights to request religious accommodation and we are waiting to hear the results of his interview.
08/09/12 – Public Accomodation - It was reported to CAIR-WA that a Muslim man who brought his son to see a doctor several years ago had been refused service by the doctor based on their religious affiliation. CAIR-WA has only just heard of this case and because of the time that has lapsed we were unable to take action, but we have documented the incident in case other issues should arise in the future.
08/09/12 – Prison - A Washington inmate wrote to CAIR-WA asking for assistance with a pending administrative review as well as finding a job and/or educational opportunity to help make his life more meaningful. CAIR-WA wrote a letter in response, and gave the man several legal aid referrals for assistance with his administrative review. We also provided information on scholarships and opportunities that may be available to him while he is still incarcerated, and encouraged him to pursue any that he found of interest.
08/09/12 – Public Accomodation - A Muslim woman contacted CAIR-WA to report that her wages had been garnished after she was unable to pay an emergency room bill for some time. She stated that the total amount taken had included interest, which would go against her beliefs to pay. Since CAIR-WA does not have an attorney on staff and the situation was beyond the scope of our mission and expertise, we provided the woman with a referral to several legal organizations who we have successfully worked with in the past.
08/07/12 – Prison - Several inmates from a Washington state prison sent letters to CAIR-WA to lodge complaints about the lack of religious accommodations being made by their chaplains, especially for their Eid Al-fitr celebration. In response to these and several similar complaints, CAIR-WA set an agenda for a meeting with the head of the Department of Corrections' Religious Programs. Though CAIR-WA's ability to help things run smoothly inside correctional facilities is limited, we are very eager to assist with any civil rights violations and/or cases of discrimination that occur in these facilities, and based on a number of past successes, are confident in our ability to secure these accommodations for our clients.
08/04/12 – Hate mail/Hate phone calls - A Muslim man contacted CAIR-WA to report an ongoing case of online harassment against him and several others. After reviewing the case, CAIR-WA came to the conclusion that the correspondence between individuals online is protected by the First Amendment and we were therefore unable to take action on the case. CAIR-WA encouraged the man to block contact with offending parties and advised him to contact the police and CAIR-WA if he ever receives any actual threats.
08/03/12 – Child custody - CAIR-WA was contacted by a Muslim couple whose infant son was taken from their custody. The child had been rushed to the hospital for injuries acquired by falling when he tried to walk, but the doctors believed that he was shaken and/or abused instead and turned him over to a case worker with the state. The state has now also taken the couple's second child, who was born about 3 months ago. Since this is a legal matter, CAIR-WA advised the couple to work with their state-appointed attorneys, and is monitoring the case.
08/03/12 – Government Agency/Other - CAIR-WA was contacted by a Muslim man who had suffered a severe car accident with his wife in February of this year, during which his head was severely injured and his wife's back had been broken. The couple had full insurance coverage at the time. Initially they were told that they would be given $110,000 in compensation for their injuries and medical bills, but were contacted a month later by the insurer and informed that they would no longer receive any compensation. The couple acquired an attorney, after which the insurance company offered partial compensation but have still not followed through on their word. CAIR-WA referred the couple to the King County Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service, through which they received an attorney. CAIR-WA arranged an interpreter for the man during his attorney consultation.
08/03/12 – Employment/Hire or Fire - A Muslim woman living in Boston, Massachusetts contacted CAIR-WA to report that she had been unfairly fired from her job, where she had worked for over four years. The woman had gone to work during her normal hours but was unable to check in to log her hours on the computer. As a result, she was unexpectedly fired and deleted from the system, then told not to come in for work. A co-worker of hers said that he was told she had "called in sick". Since the woman lives closer to the Washington, D.C. branch of CAIR and they would more likely be familiar with local employment laws, CAIR-WA referred her case to the Civil Rights Department at CAIR's Washington DC office.
08/02/12 – Employment/Hire or Fire - It was reported to CAIR-WA by a Muslim man in northern Washington that he had been unfairly terminated from his workplace. During his 11 years of employment, the man was harassed for being Muslim by both supervisors and co-workers. In addition, he was written up twice in one week for returning one minute late from a break during which he had been praying. He was then put on probation, during which he did not receive full pay and was never given back-pay. On July 31st of this year he called in to work and was given permission to show up late the next day because of a doctor's appointment. When he showed up as expected, he was given a 24 hour suspension for being late. The next morning he was called and told he had been fired. CAIR-WA wrote a letter of complaint to the company on his behalf, and the company responded firmly denying all accusations and requests for redress. CAIR-WA referred the man to an employment attorney to take more aggressive legal action and will continue to monitor the case.
08/01/12 – Government Agency/FBI - A Muslim woman reported to CAIR-WA that an FBI agent visited her home and asked to speak with her brother, who was not present. The agent said that he would return the next day to question the brother. CAIR-WA gave the woman basic advice about FBI interviews and provided her with a referral to a pro bono attorney and will continue to monitor the case.