Dallas men say IHOP fired them because they are Muslim

by TERESA WOODARD
WFAA

Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:02 PM

Four employees of the IHOP restaurant chain with a combined 45 years experience claim they were fired in 2010 because of their national origin and their religious beliefs.
The men are Arab and Muslim, and they allege that that was the basis for their termination.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agreed, determining there was “reasonable cause” that the men were harassed and terminated because of their national origin.
The men’s attorneys filed suit Tuesday against IHOP and Anthraper Investments, which owns the four local franchises involved in Plano, Fort Worth, Arlington and Burleson.
Attorney Jay Ellwanger said the men experienced a hostile work environment for a long time.
“I’m Christian; I’m white,” Ellwanger said. “I couldn’t imagine being fired for my job because that’s who I am.”
The lawsuit claims the men were all fired despite repeated positive evaluations from supervisors.
“It’s shocking that in this day and age we’re still going through this, and still fighting this fight,” said co-counsel Sara Wyn Kane.
In their lawsuit, the men state that they heard repeated discriminatory remarks from Anthraper Investments owners, such as “Arab men treat women poorly and with disrespect, we’re going to let these people go and have new faces coming in.”
The lawsuit states that one owner equated Muslims waiting to break the fast during Ramadan to “dogs waiting for their meal.”
Ellwanger said the men received one warning every year. “Every year on the anniversary of September 11th, our clients received and email from IHOP management telling them to lay low at their stores,” he said.
An attorney for Anthraper Investments said the EEOC “simply got it wrong” in this case. He said the agency has a large backlog of charges and inadequate resources.
The EEOC reviewed more than 4,100 claims of religious discrimination and only ruled 6.6 percent had reasonable cause. This was one of those cases.
“They are just like everybody else,” Kane said of her clients. “They are American citizens who should not be treated differently based on their national origin or their religion.”
IHOP said the employment practices of the company and franchisees are non-discriminatory and inclusive. “We have a long history of supporting diversity,” the IHOP statement said. “Our franchisee believes the allegations are without merit, and looks forward to the fair conclusion of this matter.”
Kane and Ellwanger will accompany their clients at a rally outside the federal court building on Wednesday morning.
“They made a lot of money over the years for IHOP, and to be treated like this — to be dismissed because of religious beliefs and national origins — it’s something all of us are protected from under American law,” Ellwanger said.
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At IHOP, it’s a flap, Jack

Four ex-Dallas IHOP managers will file a suit today against the pancake chain, alleging they were fired for being Muslim.
Lawyer James Vagnini told The Post that Joseph Huessin and the others also plan to sue IHOP franchisee Anthraper Investments. Anthraper and IHOP denied the charges.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated and found there was cause to believe the IHOP managers were harassed, Vagnini said. The EEOC doesn’t comment on investigations.
Read more: https://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/at_ihop_it_flap_jack_l8S68T6BYpYKLadV8vAbnO#ixzz1sQYwhHg4
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IHOP Sued After 4 Muslim Managers Are Fired

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Attorneys filed a federal lawsuit against IHOP and a local franchise owner on Tuesday, claiming that the restaurant owners fired four managers across the Metroplex in 2010 because they are Muslim. The attorneys for the four managers said that their clients are still unemployed because of the damage done to their reputations.
The managers worked at IHOP locations in Plano, Burleson, Fort Worth and Arlington — all owned by Anthraper Investments.
“It became very clear to them that they were no longer wanted,” explained attorney James Vagnini, who represents the men in their lawsuit. “One by one, over the course of about four to five months, each of them was fired.”
According to the lawsuit, the managers had “performed their jobs without incident” for anywhere between seven to 14 years, enduring harassment about of their religion. “On 9/11, they would get an email from the owner of Anthraper Investments saying, ‘Lay low, it’s 9/11.’ Comments referring to Arabs as dogs. That Arab men don’t treat women fairly,” said Vagnini.
The lawsuit claims that the situation got worse in 2010. During a meeting, a new district manager allegedly said, “We’re going to let these people go and have new faces coming in.” By the end of the year, all four Muslim managers were fired. According to the lawsuit, each manager was being fired for a performance issue.
“They’ve been humiliated beyond anything,” said Vagnini. “I’ve seen 40- and 50-year-old-men break down and cry talking about how they have to explain to their kids in college that they can’t afford the next semester because they don’t have the job they had.”
The plaintiffs filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and an investigation completed in January found “reasonable cause to believe that… Arabs were discriminatorily harassed and discharged based on… national origin.” Now, attorneys are suing, hoping that the company will change its ways.
A spokesperson for IHOP said, “We have a long history of supporting diversity in all aspects of our business. Our franchisee believes the allegations are without merit and looks forward to the fair conclusion of this matter.”
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Rights activists welcome Zimmerman charges

Published: April 13, 2012 3:14 PM
By SID CASSESE  sid.cassese@newsday.com
A group of Nassau County civil rights activists on Friday welcomed the filing of murder charges against the alleged killer of Trayvon Martin in Florida, while lamenting what they called a rise in hate crimes on Long Island and nationwide.
“We’re pleased Mr. [George] Zimmerman has been arrested, and we expect the legal system will do its job,” said Garden City civil rights attorney James Vagnini. “But there has been a rise in racially motivated incidents in this country.”
Vagnini, along with NAACP officials and a former regional director of the state division of Human Rights, held a news conference at the Coral House in Baldwin two days after Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17, on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla.
Prosecutors say Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, followed and confronted the black teenager after police dispatchers told him to back off. Zimmerman says Martin attacked him after he had turned away and was returning to his vehicle.
Leah Jefferson, of Patchogue, the former state official who now works in women’s health care, said she had seen a rise in complaints of job and housing discrimination on Long Island shortly before she left job five years ago. “It doesn’t seem that anything has changed,” she said, referring to the Martin shooting.
Freeport–Roosevelt NAACP President Douglas Mayers said swastikas and nooses symbolizing the lynching of black men are still being found around Long Island. “There were recently reports of a swastika in , and I’m hearing about nooses all over the place,” he said.
Last summer in West Hempstead, a building door frame on Westminster Road was marked with profanity and a swastika symbol.
He said blacks still seem to bear the brunt of such discriminatory action.
Vagnini said the death of Martin, who was unarmed, will be remembered for “sparking a new discussion on race in America.”

Nassau County and Long Island Civil Rights Leader to Hold News Conference Today, 4/13 to Discuss Hate Crimes Increase After George Zimmerman Charged with Murder

LONG ISLAND CIVIL RIGHTS  LEADERS TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE DAY AFTER GEORGE ZIMMERMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER
 

Former Human Rights Director Leigh Jefferson and Freeport-Roosevelt NAACP President Doug Mayer will join civil rights leader James Vagnini in a press conference on Friday April 13, 2012 at 11:45 am at  the Coral House located at 70 Milburn Avenue in Baldwin . They will discuss community reaction to George Zimmerman being charged with Second Degree Murder. The group will also speak on the rise of hate crimes on Long Island. There have been recent incidents involving severe discrimination throughout the tri-state region.  Nassau County police reported six locations have been tagged with swastikas and other graffiti since December. There was also the firebombing of buildings in Queens, including a mosque, and an Elmont home on New Year’s Day.

Educating restaurants about harassment

The Long Island chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association plans to consult with a well-known Garden City civil rights lawyer early next month over ways to educate restaurant staff and managers about sexual harassment in the workplace.
It’s all the result of the sexual harassment allegations that have been hurled against Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, who is accused of improper behavior toward women when he was chief executive of the National Restaurant Association a decade ago. Cain has denied all of the allegations against him.

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Long Islanders hold MLK tribute ahead of DC dedication

By: News 12 Long Island
(10/14/11) HEMPSTEAD
New York Employment AttorneyLong Islanders held a special tribute in Hempstead today ahead of Sunday’s official National Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial dedication in Washington, D.C.
The major theme of the gathering at the Antioch Baptist Church of Hempstead was Dr. King’s dream and whether it’s been realized on the Island and around the country.
Although many may feel the racism that Dr. King had fought against is now in the past, some say it is not so.
“Nassau County is still one of the most racist counties in America,” says Bishop Frank White, of the Nassau County Council of Clergy “There is still white flight when black folks move in.”
When asked what Dr. King would say about the world if he were alive today, some of the civil rights activists say he would have mixed emotions.
“We need to keep the fight and the struggle because there are still issues that need to be dealt with,” says Rev. Dr. Phillip Elliott, of Antioch Baptist Church.
Many of the people who gathered in Hempstead today say they will be at the memorial dedication Sunday.
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3 sisters allege harassment at restaurant – Newsday

Photo credit: Howard Schnapp | From left, Gabrielle D'Annunzio stands with her sisters, Ashley and Lauren, in Mineola as they discuss the lawsuit they have filed against Ayhan's Fish Kebab in Port Washington. (July 13, 2011)

Three sisters from Port Washington charged Wednesday that they had been sexually harassed continually while working as teenagers at a Port Washington restaurant.
The three — Ashley, Gabrielle and Lauren D’Annunzio, who are now in their early 20s — made the assertions in announcing the filing of a civil suit in federal court in Central Islip. They are seeking unspecified damages on allegations of sexual harassment and emotional distress from the restaurant, Ayhan’s Fish Kebab, its owner Ayhan Hassan, and a manager, Dario Gomez.
At a news conference on the steps of the State Supreme Court inMineola, the three said that, while working as hostesses at the restaurant, they had complained to management about the harassment, but nothing was done to stop it.
The harassment included male employees making lewd remarks to them and touching their arms, legs and buttocks, according to the suit filed by their attorney, Sara Kane of Garden City.
An attorney for the restaurant, Bruce Migatz of Garden City, said that he had not seen the lawsuit, but that “I’m familiar with the contentions, and they are wholly without merit, anyway.”
The sisters, who had worked at the restaurant for between 1 1/2 and three years — quit in July of 2008 after an incident in the restaurant’s basement when Lauren D’Annunzio, then 17, was restrained in a bear hug by a cook who groped her though “she shouted unsuccessfully for him to stop,” the suit says.
The cook, Juan Pablo Orellano, halted the attack when a busboy came down to the basement, the suit says.
A spokesman for the Nassau district attorney’s office, Christopher Munzing, said that Orellano was convicted in October 2008 of attempted sexual abuse, a felony, and served four months in jail because of the D’Annunzio incident.
Article Written By: Robert E. Kessler, Newsday.com
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"Civil rights law is their passion" – Newsday

James Vagnini, Sara Kane and Rob Valli
James Vagnini, Sara Kane and Rob Valli

As most lawyers know, civil rights cases are not where the real money is in the legal profession. But one Long Island law firm has barreled into discrimination cases in the South in the past few years, citing a passion for such work.
“We do the old-fashioned civil rights work,” saidJames Vagnini, one of the three partners at Garden City-based Valli Kane & Vagnini. “If I didn’t make a nickel, I’d be just as happy. I’ve learned a lot. I wanted to do law in a way that I could sleep at night.”
The firm is making money, the partners say. But the cases have taken them into some parts of the Lone Star State where media reports indicate race relations have reached a low point in recent years.
The firm was recently in Paris, Texas, where the town’s largest employer is pipe-manufacturer Turner Industries. Black employees have said that hangman’s nooses, Confederate flags and racist graffiti have appeared at the workplace.
Last week, Valli Kane obtained from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission a “reasonable cause” letter, saying the federal agency believes discrimination has occurred at Turner and asking the company and its black employees to sit down and discuss the matter.
In response, Turner said it has formed an employee task force “to assist in promoting and maintaining a workplace that is free of harassment or discrimination.” Turner said it has “zero tolerance” for any discrimination in the workplace.
In 2008, Valli Kane took another case to the EEOC, this one in Dallas involving Allied Aviation Services Inc., which agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle a harassment lawsuit filed on behalf of black and Hispanic workers.
The law firm was formed about two years ago. The three met when they worked together at Leeds, Morelli & Brown, a law firm in Carle Place.
Previously, Vagnini had worked for the New York City Human Rights Commission while a law student at Hofstra University in Hempstead. Robert Valli Jr. had been a Queens assistant district attorney, and Sara Kane was an assistant attorney at the New York City Corporation Counsel.
The firm also handles criminal and real estate cases, but Vagnini said more than 75 percent of its work is civil rights or discrimination cases.
“We have a passion for this,” Kane said.

Freeport deputy police chief sues village over demotion

Police officer Debbie Zagaja is filing a suit against Freeport
Photo credit: Sally Morrow | Police officer Debbie Zagaja is filing a suit against Freeport. (Aug. 11, 2010)

A Freeport police official demoted this year from the department’s No. 3 post sued the village Wednesday, claiming village officials discriminated against her because she is a white female.
The lawsuit, filed in Central Islip federal court, said 24-year veteran Debbie Zagaja was passed over for promotion and demoted from deputy chief to lieutenant in March because of Mayor Andrew Hardwick’s “racist and bigoted agenda.”
To replace Zagaja, the only employee on the force with senior-level management experience, Hardwick hand-picked a Hispanic male who was the department’s most junior lieutenant, the suit said.
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Zagaja, 47, of Merrick, said news of the demotion came days after she requested a separate locker room for women supervisors, which male supervisors already had.
Shortly after that, the complaint states, village attorney Howard Colton told Zagaja that ” ‘right, wrong, or indifferent,’ the Mayor would be replacing key leadership posts with ‘his people.’ ”
” ‘His people’ appear to be minorities and/or men, or a combination, and unfortunately that’s not Debbie,” said her attorney, Sara Kane of Garden City, adding Zagaja’s performance never was questioned.
Hardwick did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Colton referred calls to aMineola firm that represents the village. Peter Bee, an attorney with the firm, declined to comment.
The village board was not consulted on the decision not to renew Zagaja’s contract, village trustee Bill White said.
“Debbie Zagaja has had a stellar career with the Freeport Police Department and in my opinion did a superb job during her tenure as deputy chief,” said White, who declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Zagaja’s case is part of a pattern of reverse discrimination established by Hardwick since he took office in April 2009.
The complaint cites the replacement of a white female tax assessor with a black male, and the rehiring of the woman as a consultant to do work he couldn’t perform.
The complaint said the village also sought to broaden the pool of candidates for police chief to include minorities in part to avoid appointing Zagaja to the post, expected to become vacant later this year.
Since Zagaja’s demotion, she’s been asked to continue performing duties of someone above her rank, she said. “I don’t look at other police officers as male, female, black, white,” she said. “I look at us as all blue, because you put on that uniform to serve.”