Muslim workers fired in prayer dispute

The company employed a total of 53 staff

The workers were fired following a dispute over prayer times (ABC)

A civil rights group has said it is to file a lawsuit against a company that fired seven Muslim employees who insisted on taking unauthorised time to pray.

Wisconsin-based Ariens Co fired the staff members last month after moving to enforce an existing company rule that provided two 10-minute breaks per work shift.

Dozens of Somali staff walked off the job in protest. Of the 53 employees involved, 32 have abided with the policy, 14 resigned and seven were fired on Tuesday.

Ariens spokeswoman Ann Stilp told the Associated Press: “We would have liked for more employees to stay, but we respect their decision.”

But a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the company just wanted “to weed them out”.

“There is a lot of flexibility to keep these employees if the company is willing to do that,” Jaylani Hussein said of the employees, who joined the company last summer through an employment services contractor in Green Bay.

The company, based in Brillion, 90 miles north of Milwaukee, initially allowed the Muslim employees to leave their work stations a third time to accommodate prayers, but said it began disrupting production at the lawn mower and snowblower manufacturer.

CEO Dan Ariens said last month that the best solution was to schedule break time and stay within the policy of two breaks, which the company says was not new and is discussed during employee orientation.

Mr Ariens has said it had longstanding religious accommodations for Muslim workers, including a prayer room.

But Mr Hussein said the employees had been harassed by co-workers and that Ariens did not handle the complaints properly. Mr Hussein did not specify when complaints would be filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.