CAIR-MI, Civil Rights Law Firm Pitt McGehee to Announce Federal Discrimination Lawsuit Against Anna’s House on Behalf of Fired Minority Employees

(FARMINGTON HILLS, MI, 1/29/2020) – On Thursday, January 30, the Michigan chapter of Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), together with the civil rights law firm of Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers, PC will hold a joint press conference to announce the filing of a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of two former employees of Anna’s House who were terminated because of their race, religion and for opposing the company’s discriminatory employment practices. 

WHAT: Joint Press Conference

WHO: CAIR-MI Staff Attorney, CAIR-MI Executive Director, Channing Robinson-Holmes Attorney for Pitt McGehee, Michael Pitt Partner at Pitt McGehee and Clients

WHEN: Thursday, January 30, 10 a.m.

WHERE: CAIR-MI Farmington Hills Office, 30201 Orchard Lake Road, Suite 260, Farmington Hills, MI 48334

CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, (248) 842-1418, [email protected]; CAIR-MI Staff Attorney  Amy V. Doukoure, (586) 943-8823 [email protected]; Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers Managing Partner Michael Pitt [email protected] and Attorney Channing Robinson-Holmes [email protected], (248) 398-9800

BACKGROUND:

The two employees, one Hispanic former manager and a Senegalese Muslim former kitchen manager, were two of a number of minority management staff who were all terminated around the same time in 2019 without warning or explanation. 

The former managers strongly resisted the owner’s discriminatory employment practices and assert they were terminated for opposing these unlawful working conditions and because of their ethnicity and religion which did not make them a “good fit†for the “culture” that the owner of Anna’s House was trying to create. 

Through social media postings and other statements, the owner of Anna’s House has taken a public stance which echoes the racial, xenophobic and Islamophobic biases which are at the heart of these unlawful employment practices.

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.

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