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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/5419/full/5419/jewish-lawyer-wins-big-discrimination-case-for-arab/ <br /><br /> <b>Jewish lawyer wins big discrimination case for Arab</b> <br /> Friday, April 4, 1997 | by <p>LESLIE KATZ </p> <br /><br /><p>Notably, it was a Jewish American lawyer who helped an Arab-American plaintiff win what is believed to be one of the largest employment discrimination verdicts for an Arab-American in the country.<br /><br /> Now, the nearly $3 million judgment awarded Ahmad Abu-Aziz last week has him hailing the decision not only as a civil rights triumph, but also a hopeful sign of Arab-Jewish cooperation.<br /><br /> "If you can magnify this relationship from a person to a group, from a group to a whole community, from a whole community to a whole country, that's where the roots of understanding are," said Abu-Aziz, a Jordanian national and a Muslim who sued United Airlines, his former employer.<br /><br /> "We both are human. We are one race."<br /><br /> In 1994, Abu-Aziz, 29, applied for and obtained an entry-level position at United Airlines. He worked at Oakland International Airport.<br /><br /> During the first two months of his employment, Abu-Aziz contends he was subjected to a hostile and offensive working environment, including derogatory comments from co-workers about Arab and Muslim hygiene habits and religious observance. He was allegedly asked how many wives he had back home and told he looked like a terrorist.<br /><br /> When Abu-Aziz complained to his supervisor about such comments, he said the supervisor trivialized his concerns and did nothing to address them.<br /><br /> Within six weeks, Abu-Aziz was terminated, with United management allegedly relying on statements from Abu-Aziz' co-workers accusing him of consuming alcohol on the job and stealing company property.<br /><br /> The statements were false, according to Abu-Aziz' attorney John Riley.<br /><br /> Last week, a jury of five women and seven men in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland agreed that United had subjected Abu-Aziz to a hostile working environment because of his national origin and religion.<br /><br /> The jury further agreed that the company had terminated Abu-Aziz' employment in retaliation for his complaints to supervisors.<br /><br /> Jury members awarded the plaintiff $246,000 in economic damages and $50,000 in emotional distress damages and assessed punitive damages against United in the amount of $2,670,000.<br /><br /> "I feel vindicated," said Abu-Aziz, a resident of Fremont who now works as a mechanic for DHL at the San Francisco International Airport. "There is justice for us in this country as Muslims and Arabs."<br /><br /> "To be prejudiced [against] because I come from the Middle East was a terrible experience."<br /><br /> Abu-Aziz said a number of attorneys turned his case down before Riley, a vice president of Berkeley's Judah L. Magnes Museum and president of the Jacques and Esther Reutlinger Foundation, decided to take it on.<br /><br /> Riley, who practices solo in San Francisco, said he is certainly not the first Jewish American attorney to defend an Arab client. But he believes an increasing openness to anti-Arab prejudice in this country makes this a particularly significant case.<br /><br /> "People can go in the workplace and say, `You look like a terrorist' and not realize how offensive it is," Riley said. "I think that's somewhat fed by things like the Oklahoma bombing." Initially, many assumed that the perpetrators were Arabs.<br /><br /> Like Abu-Aziz, Riley sees the pair's relationship as a positive sign that groups often at odds can work toward shared ends.<br /><br /> "We have a common goal here," he says, "that everybody be treated equally."</p> <p> </p>

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