Cargill, Teamsters will pay $1.6M to settle civil rights dispute over Muslim workers’ prayer breaks

A Fort Mor­gan meat­pack­ing plant and the union that rep­re­sents its employ­ees will pay set­tle­ments to Mus­lim work­ers whose civil rights were vio­lated when they were denied prayer breaks and then fired after they complained.

Cargill Meat Solu­tions will pay $1.5 mil­lion and the Team­sters Local Union No. 455 will pay $153,000 to resolve com­plaints filed in 2015 after the Somali-American work­ers walked off the job over the prayer breaks dis­pute, the U.S. Equal Oppor­tu­nity Employ­ment Com­mis­sion announced in a news release Friday.

The com­pany and the union did not accept the EEOC’s find­ings that they dis­crim­i­nated against the employ­ees because of their reli­gion, but decided to set­tle to avoid lengthy legal proceedings.

Cargill now allows prayer breaks and pro­vides des­ig­nated areas for the work­ers to prac­tice their reli­gion. The breaks take into account pro­duc­tion line needs and food safety requirements.

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