Muslim doctor sues, claims religious discrimination

 A Muslim doctor formerly at a clinic under what is now the Corewell Health group filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired for adhering to prayer times and after speaking out against colleagues over-prescribing opioids.

Though “well-qualified for his position” as a primary care physician at the Beaumont Athens Clinic in Taylor, Samer Ilayan “was quickly met with managerial issues, religious discrimination and retaliation” soon after starting in July, according to the suit filed this month in Wayne County Circuit Court.

In August, Ilayan, a Sunni Muslim who graduated from the Ross University School of Medicine in 2019, shared concerns about the clinic’s “generous and careless distribution of opioids,” the court document said.

At other times, coworkers allegedly chastised him for taking brief breaks to accommodate some of his daily required prayers, the suit said. “On occasion … his coworkers would tell patients that he was not in the office even though he had never left the office.”

Ilayan informed a manager he wanted to attend community prayer on Fridays as obligated under the Sunni Islamic faith but was denied and told “he does not have what it takes to be a successful doctor at the clinic,” according to the filing.

In October, the doctor was forced to file paid-time-off on Fridays to attend prayer, his suit said. The same month, he filed a complaint with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs about opioid dispensing.

Ilayan soon was given a performance improvement plan. A regional manager told him “she reviewed his PTO requests and only approved 18 hours even though additional hours were previously approved,” the suit said.

In December, he filed a discrimination complaint with human resources. The same month, medical assistants twice claimed they couldn’t find Ilayan although he had not left the office, according to the document.

On Jan. 19, the same day human resources ended its investigation, Ilayan was fired “in retaliation for Plaintiff’s report to LARA, his threat to report to LARA, his requests for religious accommodations, and/or his religion,” according to the lawsuit.

Beaumont sites now are under the system recently named Corewell Health. In a statement Tuesday to The Detroit News, the group said: "The allegations in Dr. Ilayan’s lawsuit are false. During Dr. Ilayan’s employment, he requested and received a religious accommodation for time in his schedule dedicated to prayer. We are committed to providing reasonable workplace accommodations whenever possible for religious beliefs and practices."

Ilayan, an Arab American who was the first in his family to become a doctor, alleges the health group’s actions violated the state's Elliott Larsen Civil Rights and Whistleblower Protection acts.

“Plaintiff was subjected to unwelcome conduct and treatment due to his national origin, religion, and/or race,” his lawyers, Jonathan Marko and Caitlin Malhiot of Marko Law in Detroit, asserted in the suit. “… Defendants wrongfully denied Plaintiff’s reasonable requests for religious accommodations.”

The suit seeks damages and attorney fees.