Adalah Demands Compensation and Punitive Damages for Employment Discrimination

Today, Adalah lawyer Jamil Dakwar filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Wasim Khouri, to the Labor Court of Haifa, demanding compensation and punitive damages of NIS 50,000 from Amnon Misilot Ltd. for employment discrimination. 

The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (Employment Bureau) referred Mr. Khouri of Tarshiha (an Arab village in the Galilee) to a position as a clerk for Amnon Misilot Ltd., located in Ma’a lot (a neighboring Jewish town).  When Mr. Khouri arrived for the job, the company’s human resource officer, Mr. Meni Meir, asked Mr. Khouri where he was from.  Mr. Khouri told Mr. Meir that he came from Tarshiha, and Mr. Meir immediately denied him the position.  Mr. Meir wrote on the referral form that: “I had requested a Jewish clerk (without hurting any of the unemployed).”

Mr. Khouri contacted Adalah for legal assistance in the matter.  In the lawsuit filed to the Labor Court in Haifa, on behalf of Mr. Khouri, Adalah claimed that the company denied Mr. Khouri’s right of equal opportunity to employment in violation of the Equal Employment Opportunities Law (EEOL) (1988).  The EEOL prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin.  Breach of the law is both a civil wrong and a criminal offense.  Adalah further claimed that the company violated Mr. Khouri’s dignity; by denying him the job on the basis of his Palestinian identity, the company humiliated him. 

Adalah requested that the Labor Court order the company to pay compensation as well as punitive damages, the latter not often asked by litigants in Israel.  By seeking punitive damages, Adalah is attempting to broaden the range of remedies available for victims of racial discrimination.  To support this request, Adalah relied on caselaw from the United States, Canada and European Union countries.