An American of Palestinian descent filed suit Wednesday in federal court charging that he was fired as a security guard in a Morton Grove bank a day after the outbreak of war in the Persian Gulf solely because of his Arab race. Reyad Ibrahim was dismissed by Professionals Detective Agency after employees at a Cragin Federal Bank for Savings branch in the north suburb accused him of being a terrorist, the suit alleged.
Ibrahim was employed by Professionals and had been assigned as a guard at the bank for several months when he was fired on Jan. 17, 1991, the day after the war with Iraq began.
The suit seeks a total of $1.27 million in damages from Professionals and Cragin.
Cragin could not be reached for comment. An employee at Professionals who identified himself only as ”Burns” called the legal action ”a nuisance suit.”
Jonathan Baum, Ibrahim`s lawyer, declined to comment beyond the suit, saying, ”We are in a sensitive stage in settlement discussions.”
The suit charged that shortly after a bank branch manager questioned Ibrahim about his views on the war, one or more Cragin employees complained to Professionals about Ibrahim posing a threat to customers.
Within a few hours, the Professionals supervisor fired Ibrahim, the suit said.
