Muslim Truck Driver Takes Action Against Discrimination in TN

June 23, 2004

Source: The Tennessean

[tennessean.com/local/archives/04/06/53237088.shtml?Element_ID=53237088]

On June 23, 2004 The Tennessean reported, "A local Muslim truck driver says he was fired for refusing to pick up a load of Budweiser beer after telling supervisors that transporting alcohol violated his religious beliefs.

Ibrahim Barzinji, a Nashville resident who is Kurdish, filed suit in federal court this week against his former employer, the Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt Transport Inc., after getting permission from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That permission is the first step required of anyone filing suit under the Civil Rights Act... A local labor and employment attorney said that, to prove his case, Barzinji would have to convince a judge or jury that asking to be assigned a different load was reasonable and would not cause undue hardship on the company."