A civil rights group has alleged that employees at a Massachusetts McDonald’s intentionally added bacon to a fish sandwich ordered by a Muslim woman for her child, a deliberate action that goes against her religious beliefs.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, claiming the restaurant’s actions were meant to insult and cause distress to the woman and her family, as Islamic dietary laws prohibit consuming pork.
The complaint is the first step in the process for seeking monetary damages, said Barbara Dougan, a CAIR lawyer. She also hopes it prompts McDonald’s to better train its workers to prevent a similar incident in the future.
“Religious discrimination at a place of public accommodation is not only illegal, but also morally reprehensible,” she said in a statement. “[Y]ou can’t go much lower than tampering with the food of a young child,” she said.
An email seeking comment was left with McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Chicago. A message was also left with someone who answered the phone at Gomez Enterprises LLC, which operates the McDonald’s restaurant on Meadow Street in Chicopee.
The experience prompted one of the children to ask, “Why did they do this? Do they hate us?” the complaint says.
“McDonald’s made my children and me feel unwanted and worthless by intentionally stuffing a fish sandwich full of bacon for no other reason than to punish us for our faith and religious convictions,” the woman, Ghadir Alahmar, said in a statement.
“This really hurt us. My children now wonder if they are welcome in their own country. They ask me, ‘Do they hate us?’ How is a mother supposed to answer that question?”
Alahmar, who wears a hijab and an abaya, entered the store on June 29 of last year with her twin 7-year-old sons, the complaint says. She ordered a plain fish sandwich and had one of her children repeat the order to a worker in case they did not understand her accent.
They received their order, which included fries and cookies, and left the restaurant to walk to a nearby school playground where they planned to eat. One of her sons noticed the bacon.
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Alahmar told her son not to eat the sandwich, the complaint says. But he said he was hungry and ate the lower half of the bun and part of the fish filet, according to the complaint.
The sandwich not only had bacon on it, but appeared to have extra bacon, the complaint says. A copy of the family’s receipt included with the complaint charged the family an additional $1.59 for “ONLY Two Half Strips Bacon.”
Alahmar’s husband returned to the store with the uneaten portion of the sandwich later that same evening and was refunded the purchase price, as well as the bacon upcharge.
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