Title VII Violation – Religious Accommodations

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Mohammed Mahran v. Advocate Christ Medical Center, et al.,

Case No.: 19-2911

Officials: SYKES, Chief Judge, and BAUER and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Title VII Violation – Religious Accommodations

Mohammed Mahran, an Egyptian Muslim, sued Advocate Christ Medical Center, his former employer, raising claims of employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Illinois Human Rights Act (“IHRA”). Mahran, a pharmacist, alleged that Advocate failed to accommodate his need for prayer breaks; disciplined and later fired him based on his race, religion, and national origin; retaliated against him for reporting racial and religious discrimination; and subjected him to a hostile work environment based on his race, religion, and national origin. The district judge entered summary judgment for Advocate on all claims.

Mahran limits his appeal to two issues. First, he asks us to revive his religious-accommodation claim, arguing that the judge wrongly required him to show that Advocate’s failure to accommodate his prayer breaks resulted in an adverse employment action. Second, he argues that the judge failed to consider the totality of the evidence in evaluating his hostile-workplace claim.

Mahran’s first argument, which concerns the legal standard for a religious-accommodation claim, is new on appeal. Indeed, he expressly agreed below that an adverse employment action is an element of a prima facie Title VII claim for failure to accommodate an employee’s religious practice. He cannot now take the opposite position here; arguments raised for the first time on appeal are deemed waived. And while the judge should have considered all the evidence Mahran adduced in support of his hostile-workplace claim, our own review of the record convinces us that there is not enough evidence for a jury to find that Advocate subjected him to a hostile work environment. We therefore affirm.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.