Lawsuit: Gwinnett School Fired Muslim Woman For Praying

DULUTH, GA — A lawsuit filed this week in federal court claims a woman who worked at a Gwinnett County school was fired after asking supervisors to accommodate her daily prayer schedule.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Penny Deams, a former custodian at Ferguson Elementary School in Duluth, filed the lawsuit on Monday. The paper says Deams also previously filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint related to her firing, but quotes a school spokeswoman saying the commission found insufficient evidence to support the claim.

Deams is an observant Muslim. When she was asked to extend her work day from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., she complained that it interfered with her daily prayer schedule, according to the lawsuit. She went to the school's human resource officer to "inquire about her rights" and, after that, noticed "significant retaliatory changes" in the way she was treated, the AJC reports, quoting the lawsuit.

The resource officer asked for a letter from Deams' mosque stating when and how many times a day she is required to pray and, soon afterward, she was accused of falsifying her job application regarding a previous job, the lawsuit claims. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

She was suspended from work for falsifying the application, which she denies doing, the lawsuit says.

After being given only two days to provide verification that she had worked in DeKalb County — a process the lawsuit says takes several days — she was fired, the AJC says, quoting the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that the firing was connected to her asking for accommodations for her prayer schedule, the AJC reports. The school district declined to comment directly on the lawsuit to the paper.

To read the original report in the AJC, click here.

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