SILICON VALLEY: A judge in California has ordered a health club chain to pay USD 24,000 in damages to a Sikh who sued the company for denying him a job after asking him whether he was Muslim.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Sukdev "Devin" Singh Dhaliwal, who is of Indian-origin, applied for a sales job with one of Chicago-based Bally's Total Fitness' five centers in June 2004. An interviewer asked Dhaliwal, who was born and raised in California, about his religious and ethnic background and then denied him a job. The Commission said that Bally's hired a non-Sikh, non-Indian applicant with less experience.
"He was basically asked where he was born, where his parents were born, what religion he subscribed to and whether he was a Muslim," said EEOC program analyst Linda Li. According to Joan Ehrlich, director for the EEOC's San Francisco district, the questions violated federal employment laws and amounted to discrimination on the basis of religion. Under the consent decree approved by US District Judge Jeffrey S White, Bally's must pay Dhaliwal USD 24,000 in damages. The lawsuit initially sought compensatory damages up to USD300, 000.
The company must also provide training in equal opportunity hiring practices to its managers. Dhaliwal said he plans to donate some of the money to his alma mater, California State University, Fresno, where a business law professor steered him to the EEOC after hearing about the interview.
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