JBS to face religious-discrimination claims

GREELEY — Meatpacking company JBS USA LLC must face claims that it discriminated against Somali Muslim workers at a Greeley plant, after a federal judge in Denver ruled earlier this month that the nearly 5-year-old case could proceed.

U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer on July 17 denied JBS’ motion for a summary judgment in a case filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC charged that the plant had engaged in religious discrimination when it disciplined or fired Muslim employees after they requested that their evening break be moved so that they could break their fasts and pray closer to sundown during Ramadan, an Islamic holy month that requires daytime fasting. The EEOC claims that JBS, a U.S. subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS S.A., granted the request for two days but then moved the break back, abruptly suspended nearly 200 Muslim employees and ultimately fired 96 of them for “unauthorized work stoppage.”

A federal district court in Omaha, Neb., had ruled at trial in 2013 that a similar request by Muslim employees at a plant in Grand Island, Neb., posed an undue burden on the company, and JBS had sought a ruling based on that precedent. Brimmer disagreed.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Business Cares: May 2024

As Mental Health Awareness Month unfolds in Colorado, it serves as a reminder of the collective responsibility to prioritize mental well-being.

“Because the Nebraska court did not consider evidence related to the Greeley plant — an outcome which JBS appears to have advocated for — and because discovery in this case and the Nebraska case did not take place simultaneously, EEOC’s ability to litigate the undue hardship issue with respect to the Greeley plant was significantly limited.” Brimmer wrote.

The Nebraska judge ruled that the similar mass firings were a one-time event that didn’t constitute a pattern of discrimination, but Brimmer wrote that “JBS made at least six different discriminatory decisions between Sept. 5 and Sept. 10, 2008, which could lead a factfinder to conclude that discrimination was JBS’s standard operating procedure during that time,” the opinion said.

Claiming violations of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991, the EEOC filed both the Colorado and Nebraska suits in 2010, representing more than 160 current and former JBS workers. The Nebraska suit alleged that supervisors and co-workers made disparaging comments to Somali employees in Grand Island, and the Colorado suit claims that offensive graffiti with racist comments existed in restrooms at JBS’ Greeley beef-processing plant.