Helena, MT - A Denny's restaurant may have deliberately slipped bacon and ham into the meals of two Muslims who had requested no-pork dishes, an investigator with the Montana Human Rights Bureau says.
"The fact that the ingredients for these meals are packaged separately and do not contain any pork products ... implies that these products were placed in the food intentionally,” according to the investigator's report.
Two Muslims, Abdussalam Sipes and Clarence Watson, had filed a religious discrimination complaint with the bureau, seeking an seeking an apology and $1 million each. The investigator's report was made public this week by an Islamic organization.
If the two sides cannot settle the complaint, it will go before a Human Rights Bureau hearing officer.
Sipes, whose religion forbids the eating of pork, said, "My soul was poisoned.” Watson said he had to purge himself by vomiting the meal and was unable to read the Koran or pray for 40 days.
The accusations arose from a March lunch at which the men asked that their meals be prepared in separate skillets to avoid contamination by pork.
Sipes said he noticed pieces of ham hidden in the food and complained. The manager offered them another dish, but Sipes said that when he inspected it, he found a strip of bacon buried underneath.
"They're claiming it's a giant coincidence that ham - not once but twice - found its way into both of their meals,” said the men's attorney, Jeff Ferguson. "They're saying it was a comedy of errors.”
Denny's, based in Spartanburg, S.C., settled a $46 million discrimination suit in 1994 filed by black Secret Service agents who complained they were denied service at a Maryland restaurant.
The restaurant chain recently launched a $2 million anti-racism campaign consisting of a series of TV commercials. Denny's employees are now also required to undergo anti-discrimination sensitivity training.
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