Muslim NYPD Cop Sues Supervisor Over Banning Speaking Of The Arabic Language At Work
Imagine not being able to speak in your own language at your place of work, well that is exactly what Egyptian police officer Ahmed Elmenshawy had to face on a daily basis. The Muslim NYPD cop was constantly told not to speak Arabic in the police department by his supervisor which led him to sue his boss over the unfair discrimination. What made the situation worse was how Elmenshawy made an entire career shift to join the NYPD. Back in 2016, he left his tech job to join the intelligence division of the NYPD.
When he joined the NYPD, knowing that his family was all the way in Egypt he would have regular calls with his mum on the phone. Along with that, he spoke Arabic with his Egyptian co-worker. This angered his then Assistant Chief of Personnel John Benoit. Elmenshawy went on to say that speaking Arabic got on the nerves of Benoit, “He would make comments like, ‘We speak English here. This is America. I can’t understand what you’re saying.'”
This was not the first time that Benoit discriminated against a cop because of his nationality as he ended up transferring Lt. Junior Carela, a commanding officer because he spoke too much Spanish. Carela also ended up suing the NYPD because of the discrimination. It even reached the extent that Benoit held an entire staff meeting to tell officers that “They could only speak English” at work.
Such incidents are very common in the US and it is still ongoing and what is unfortunate is that it affects the livelihood and career of many employees like of Benoit.
