Jury hears former Orange deputy’s claims of religious discrimination

July 08--A former Orange County deputy was in federal court this week arguing that his ex-employer discriminated against him because he is a Muslim.

Waleed Albakri alleges his former Sheriff's Office co-workers were motivated by Islamophobia when they used discriminatory language toward him and ultimately launched a criminal investigation that led to his termination.

He worked at the Sheriff's Office from 2008 to 2014, when he was arrested on charges of insurance fraud. Before 2008, he worked as a police officer at another agency for seven years.

In August 2012, he went to the agency's Human Resources department to report three co-workers -- including his supervisor -- for harassment, according to testimony Friday by Capt. Tony Marlow, who conducted an internal investigation following Albakri's complaint.

Albakri claims the insurance-fraud investigation was conducted out of retaliation for reporting his co-workers. He was arrested two months after his HR complaint, according to court documents. The charges were dropped in 2014 after he entered a pretrial diversion program.

In his lawsuit, he claims his supervisor in 2012, Sgt. James Batie, hurled gay slurs at him and made offensive jokes about having sex with his wife and sister-in-law, according to Albakri's attorneys.

"Albakri's sister was an unmarried Muslim woman," Albakri's attorneys wrote in court documents. "According to Islam, Muslims should remain virgins until marriage."

In court Friday, Marlow said he found Batie's comment "inappropriate," but he had no reason to tie it to religion.

"In anybody's religion, it is not appropriate to have sex with somebody's wife," he said.

Marlow said that when Albakri reported the behavior, he told Marlow he did not think Batie's comments were based on his religion.

According to a transcript of the interaction read to jurors Friday, Albakri told Marlow: "I can't say he picked on me because of my religion."

Albakri also accused Master Deputy Christian Readdy and another deputy of creating a hostile work environment. He claimed Readdy used Islamic and gay slurs, according to Albakri's attorneys.

Albakri requested a full investigation of Readdy and Batie, Marlow said.

In court documents, Albakri also accused other officers of using Islamic slurs, such as "terrorist." He claimed Batie would not allow him to fast during Ramadan, an Islamic holiday that requires Muslims to fast until sunset.

Readdy testified Friday that Albakri regularly engaged in crude behavior with officers. He said Albakri called him Hispanic slurs and joked about terrorism; yelled Arab "war cries" when coming into work; and once clicked a pen and said: "One of these days, this is gonna be a detonator."

Readdy said that because the officers were working undercover in a drug and prostitution unit, foul language was common in the workplace.

He admitted to calling Albakri gay but denied using religious or racial slurs. Marlow said he did not consider the gay slurs discrimination because Albakri isn't gay.

Marlow said his investigation, which included nine interviews with people in the department, found nothing to corroborate that Albakri suffered religious discrimination.

Marlow did, however, find that Batie violated the rules and gave unsatisfactory performance by not correcting a culture of inappropriate behavior. He was suspended without pay for two weeks.

Marlow said that during his investigation, he found Albakri engaged in similar behavior with Batie and other colleagues.

Jurors are expected to start deliberations Monday.

If jurors rule in favor of Albakri, he is requesting to be given back his job "at the level which he would have attained absent discrimination."

He's also seeking back pay, compensation for pain and suffering, punitive damages and attorneys' fees, according to court documents.

cdoornbos@orlandosentinel.com, 407-650-6931 or @CaitlinDoornbos

___

(c)2017 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)

Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.