ATLANTA (AP) -- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled that Delta Air Lines Inc., Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and a company that manages airplane cleaners discriminated against Somali airplane cleaners because of their national origin and religion.
An airport rule, created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, requiring cleaners take a test in English to get a security badge was discriminatory, the Atlanta EEOC office said. In the past, the Somali cleaners could use a translator to take the multiple-choice test.
In addition, the agency ruled that a supervisor for Aramark Aviation Services, which manages the cleaners, acted inappropriately by complaining about the Muslim headscarves female Somali cleaners wore.
''We used to wear the uniform, but we used to cover our hair, and they didn't like us to do that,'' said Safio Mohamed, 41, one of a dozen Somali women and two men who lost their jobs cleaning planes. The Somali refugees had cleaned planes for seven years at the airport before they were dismissed in January 2004.
The agency, in its June 28 determination, ruled that the supervisor ''made disparaging remarks towards employees.''
The commission sent letters to Delta Air Lines, the airport and Aramark Aviation Services explaining the discrimination ruling. An Aramark manager at Hartsfield-Jackson did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Airport officials are reviewing the case, airport spokeswoman Felicia Browder said. There has been no decision to change the airport's English-only test for security badges that allow access to airplanes, she said. Airports around the country have different policies on how to issue badges.
The airport said it got rid of interpreters because it had a reasonable suspicion that four years ago some of the interpreters may have provided the correct answers to the test, according to EEOC documents. The agency responded that the airport never proved its suspicions and waited three years to forbid interpreters.
Delta spokesman Anthony Black said that as a tenant of the airport, Delta is required to comply with the airport's security plan, which required the English-fluency test before access badges could be issued.
Mohamed and two other women eventually found jobs cleaning cars for Hertz Rent A Car at the airport. Others are still unemployed, Mohamed said.
The next step is for the cleaners and their employers to negotiate a settlement, said Ali Omar, executive director of the Georgia Somali Community, a spokesman for the group. He added otherwise the case will go to court.
''There are a lot of internationals who were affected the same way, but they don't speak out,'' Omar said. ''They just go home and look for another job. But the Somalis speak out.''
