Workplace Discrimination
Wendy Ghannam 9826 Sweet Mint Drive, Vienna, VA 22181
Hello everyone, please read the following and feel free to publish and
circulate this story.
Her Marriage to a Muslim Cost her a US Government Career, and Now She
Fights a Legal War
By Ramzy Baroud/Wendy Ghannam
Though the passing of the Anti Terrorism Act in 1995 was in response to
the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building by Caucasian Americans,
Arabs and Muslims have been a nearly exclusive prey to the terror-phobia
that has swept the US thereafter. But the anti-Muslim policy that has
been initiated since then (and following the events on Sept. 11th),
reaching its highest points of injustice with the Secret Evidence Act, is
not touching only Arabs and Muslims, but also those associated with them,
individuals like Wendy Ghannam. Ghannam, who was born and raised in
New York State and who currently resides in one of the suburbs of
Washington D.C., is an American-born woman whose dedication and hard
work rewarded her with a respected job in a place that she always
pledged loyalty. In 1988, after years in US government civil service jobs,
she began her final career move with the US Agency for
International Development (USAID). Her credentials as a good and
productive employee can be best observed through the evolvement of her
positions within the agency, as she worked her way up to human resources
and personnel. But even such a shiny resume was barely enough to protect
Ghannam from a fate that she could have never anticipated. In the mid
1990s, Ghannam was subjected to a "ruthless and vagarious investigation,"
she has told various media outlets, including
iviews.com.
Although the
investigation was routine, and often conducted when one remains with
USAID for over five years, for Ghannam the investigation was quite
different, and the nature of the questions asked was simply shocking.
First, Ghannam was called onto the Agency's Inspector General’s (Jeffery
Rush at the time) office so the routine check could be completed, or so
she assumed. But the short session turned into days of intense
interrogations and subsequent harassment. "We have a problem with you
Wendy. Your husband is a Palestinian Arab," stated one of Rush's office
security investigators, whose name she preferred keeping anonymous due to
the nature of her continuing case against the Agency. Dismayed by his
remarks, Ghannam replied, "I have been married to him for 25 years, and
there has never been a problem." However the investigator’s reply came
quick and sure, "you are the only one working in this agency who is
married to a Palestinian," adding, "I am gonna be honest with you, Wendy,
they (upper Agency management) just don't want you here." The
investigation continued with more vicious questioning concerning her
reasons for marrying a Muslim, whether her husband attended the mosque
regularly and if his Zakaat (charity) money went to the Islamic movement,
Hamas. Yet the end of what seemed like a never-ending interrogation was
not the end of the nightmare, says Ghannam. "I was constantly watched.
My computer was looked at," Ghannam relates. Even her supervisor became
actively involved in the 2 1/2 years of ongoing harassment, following the
IG investigation. "How could you be married to an Arab? How could you go
to bed with an Arab?" When asked, .Ghannam illustrated a small portion of
harassing questions that she was asked by her supervisor and IG personnel
as well. In 1996, Wendy Ghannam was fired from her job at USAID. She was
told that she was a "surplus." Ghannam now reflects that her grievances
with the agency began even earlier--as she was battling for her rights as
a working woman with a disability (carpal tunnel). Her case, which was
handled by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has since
rendered her re-instatement back into her job, which the Agency refuses
to acknowledge. While awaiting her first case to end, she decided to pay
a visit to Jeffery Rush himself. Rush's response to her concerns
contained little sympathy according to Ghannam. "If you make a stink
about any of this, you'll regret the day you ever came here," Rush
screamed at Ghannam, who was accompanied by a friend. "I will personally
see to it that you're ground down into a pulp, like the cement sidewalk
outside, and you'll never get up again," Ghannam was warned. Repeated
requests for Rush's statements' authenticity by Iviews.com and other
media sources attempting to get his side of the story, failed and no one
could ever get a hold of him. Constant attempts to learn of USAID's stand
on the issue were little successful either. The only reply we received
was from the Office of General Counsel (USAID's lawyers), Mr. Jan Peters.
Peters, who represented the agency in the case told us that to protect
the secrecy of the case, he would rather not comment. Now, Ghannam is
fighting a massive legal battle to attain rights that she was denied for
simply being married to an Arab Muslim, who was orignally born in
Palestine. Her legal fight is probably the boldest of its kind since it
earmarks a combination of three employment claims, which were eventually
combined by a federal judge, who ruled positively on their allegations
and merits. The lawsuit is against USAID for ongoing discrimination and
mistreatment, while mentioning Rush for his verbal abuse and threats
while Ghannam sought Whistleblower Protection. She is also alleging
disparate impact, as well as retaliation/reprisal for the agency's
continued refusal to re-instate her to her prior federal career, despite
an EEOC mandated directive to do so. Ghannam's legal battle still rages,
as she has recently discovered that the EEOC must have complete
involvement at this time, and the woman’s determination to continue
parallels a tremendous long dispute against one of the richest and most
influential US agencies, and seems nowhere near closure. But Wendy
Ghannam's case is by no means an exclusive and an isolated incident, at
the federal USAID level or at any national level. Arab and Muslim
Americans continue to be targeted and perceived with suspicious eyes,
as religious discrimination, followed by unrelentless ethnicity
discrimination following the events of Sept. 11 continue to grip the
country today. The workplace remains one of the Muslim community's
greatest concerns in America. "Most definitely, if you are an Arab or
Muslim American, all documents and records about your life are closely
reviewed and scrutinized by the U.S. government," declares Ghannam from
an expert's position. She concluded our interview with a word of advice,
"watch your back," she passionately exclaimed.
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2002-08-17 Sat 18:20ct