The District’s highest court has ruled that a Muslim security guard at a D.C. government office building should receive his unemployment benefits after being fired for putting his gun down so he could pray. Galal Badawi was a security guard at the D.C. Department of Employment Services office on H Street Northeast. On Sept. 8, 2008, he was working the evening shift — 4 p.m. to midnight — when he took off his shoes, removed his gun, took the bullets out and put the weapon in his desk drawer. Badawi then knelt behind his desk to pray as his fast for the Muslim holiday Ramadan came to an end. Another security guard spotted Badawi and called a supervisor, and Badawi was fired the next day for violating Hawk One Security’s firearms policy, being inattentive to his job and being out of uniform. Badawi was later denied unemployment benefits by an administrative judge who determined he was fired for “gross misconduct.”
The D.C. Court of Appeals, however, says the judge’s conclusion was wrong.
Hawk One “did not demonstrate that Badawi’s actions were other than an isolated incident, nor did it contend that its business had suffered serious consequences as a result, which we have held to be sufficient to support a finding of gross misconduct,” the appeals court wrote in an opinion made public Thursday. The court added, “We do not suggest that Badawi’s conduct was not serious enough to warrant termination.” So he could be fired, but should also get his benefits.
The appeals court found that the administrative judge had relied too heavily on the security company’s testimony while discrediting that of Badawi’s.
For example, according to Badawi’s testimony, he stopped to pray after 7 p.m. when the doors to the building were locked. His supervisor says it was about 6 p.m., when the building was still open and people were still moving through the lobby.
The company also claimed that Badawi grossly violated its weapon’s policy.
But by removing the bullets from the gun, the appeals court wrote, “Badawi tried to abide by Hawk One’s firearms policy and maintain safety in Hawk One’s interests under the circumstances, while meeting his religious obligation of praying for a few moments at the end of the Ramadan fast.”
