The worker at NJ School Cafeteria was fired because he was Syrian, says the process

A Syrian immigrant employed as a canteen worker at the Manchester Regional High School in the Halester for more than a decade has sued the school council and a supervisor, supporting discrimination and harassment based on his national origin.

Heilan Jarrug, who says he moved to the United States in Syria, looking for better opportunities, filed the trial against the educational council and her former supervisor on January 17 in the upper courtyard of the Passaic county.

The trial claims that Jarrug was undergoing a hostile work environment, unfair treatment and, finally, was fired because of her Syrian background and a medical condition.

Manchester Regional High School Superintendent John Coviello said in one Email on Tuesday that the district does not comment on personnel issues.

According to the trial, Jarrug worked at school for 13 years and had expected to continue until retirement.

After a new supervisor was employed in school year 2022-23, Jarrug said he became the target of excessive work volumes and refused to accommodate colleagues in the East.

The trial claims that the supervisor forbade Jarrug to speak Arabic, even when attending students who spoke language.

The complaint describes an incident in which Jarrug was rebuked after responding to Arabic to a student who asked if a meal contained pork.

The supervisor said to Jarrug: “You are in America now, speak English!”

The trial also claims that Jarrug was forced to eat in a non -sanitary locker room, near a bath, while others were allowed to use a break room.

When he resisted, the supervisor shouted and called the Security, school administrators and a police officer. Subsequently, the school assistance established that Jarrug’s blood pressure was dangerously high and was taken to a hospital.

Despite the notification of school officials about her medical condition and on the heart problems she has suffered, Jarrug says she has not been given reasonable accommodation.

Instead, it was suspended and then dismissed for violating a recently introduced mobile telephone policy – which she claims was posted only in English during medical leave.

Jarrug, who is 60, says he has not been able to find her since her cessation.

The trial claims that the school council failed to intervene despite Jarrug’s complaints and that the supervisor’s actions were intended and malicious.

The process requires compensatory and punitive damages, claiming New Jersey Law violations against discrimination.

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Anthony G. Attino can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow it on Twitter @Tonyattrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.