Court Allows Assistant Prosecutor To Move Ahead With Religious Discrimination Claim

Yesterday's Youngstown Vinndicator reports that an Ohio federal district court is permitting an assistant city prosecutor to move ahead with his lawsuit claiming he was harassed because of his Muslim faith and that accommodation of his religious worship schedule was ended.  Bassil Ally, a devout Muslim who has been an assistant city prosecutor for 7 years says he was subjected to taunts by fellow-employees suggesting he was connected to terrorists. Ally also took a late lunch (at 1:30 pm) every Friday so he could go to his mosque.  This was not problem for two years when he was assigned to a courtroom that did not meet on Fridays. But when he went to his worship service instead of attending a Friday afternoon meeting called by prosecutor Jay Macejko, he was placed on administrative leave. This led him to file religious discrimination charges with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. While permitting the suit to proceed against the city and Macejko, the court dismissed the former mayor and the law director as defendants, and placed transcripts of conversations between Ally and co-workers under seal. (See prior related posting.)