Healthcare worker settles racial discrimination case against CalVet

A Muslim nurse has settled his lawsuit against the state Department of Veterans Affairs alleging he was fired in retaliation for his complaint that an administrator treated Filipinos and whites favorably, attorneys told a judge Monday.

Ali Mohamed’s lawsuit in Los Angeles Supreme Court alleged national discrimination, racial discrimination, and disability discrimination, and a failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation. On Monday, lawyers in the case told Judge Colin Leis that the case had been resolved, but no terms were revealed. The judge canceled the scheduled trial date of October 7.

In their previous lawsuits, DVA’s lawyers denied Mohamed’s claims and said the lawsuit should be dismissed. Defense attorneys cited multiple defenses, including government immunity, and that any actions against Mohamed were taken for legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons.

Mohamed was born in Somalia and arrived in the U.S. as a young adult in 1979, according to his court papers. He worked in numerous corporate and government jobs and earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 2005, the lawsuit said.

He was hired by CalVet in November 2018 as a supervisory registered nurse and reported to the facility’s Filipino administrator, who favored people from his own background as well as whites, the suit filed in August 2020 alleged.

Although the administrator admitted that Mohamed was doing satisfactory work, he treated the plaintiff “with hostility because of his race and African ethnicity” in the same way he treated other employees of African descent, the complaint alleged.

The administrator embarrassed Mohamed by yelling at him and once pulled paperwork out of his hand in front of coworkers, according to the lawsuit, which alleges the administrator admitted to yelling at Mohamed but blamed the plaintiff for yelling at him had made angry.

The administrator also acknowledged that he did not allow Mohamed to take classes to acquire various skills, but then accused the plaintiff of not properly training him, the lawsuit alleged.

Mohamed’s complaints to management about his treatment were ignored, so he filed a federal complaint against the Filipino administrator who allegedly mistreated him and claimed he was discriminated against and harassed based on his race, the complaint said.

He alleged that the administrator’s misconduct toward him increased as a result of filing the complaint, and he was placed on medical leave from July to August 2019 due to work-related stress that caused him to become ill.

Mohamed alleges that filing his federal complaint prompted the manager, who allegedly harassed him, to tell another manager that the plaintiff was a “problem employee” who “couldn’t be trusted,” according to the lawsuit.

“While Plaintiff was on medical leave, Defendants attempted to retaliate against Plaintiff for complaining about Defendants’ discriminatory practices,” the complaint alleged.

Related Posts